Alexa Skal tallied a goal and an assist to lead the Mount Vernon Nazarene University women’s soccer team to a 2-1 victory at Taylor in a Crossroads League tournament quarterfinal Nov. 7 in Upland, Indiana.
Skal found Kayla Kalischuck for a goal in the 31st minute to give the fifth-seeded Cougars (6-4-2) a 1-0 lead.
That lead stood until the second half when Skal scored unassisted in the 75th minute to push it to 2-0.
AC Hardy got the fourth-seeded Trojans (7-5-1) on the board with an unassisted goal in the 81st minute.
Taylor’s Claire Massey hit the crossbar on a shot just 17 seconds later. The Trojans had a couple of corner kick opportunities and a pair of shots, but couldn’t get a shot on goal for the equalizer down the stretch.
MVNU hung on for the win to advance to the semifinal round for the second year in a row.
Sarah Townsend led the Cougars with three shots, but only one on goal. Lilly Jakuszewski notched four saves in goal for MVNU.
Alanna Raikes had five shots and Hardy had four, and the duo had three shots on goal apiece to lead the Trojans. Hannah Brackenburry had four saves in goal for Taylor.
MVNU plays at top-seeded Marian on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the semifinal round. The Cougars played the second-ranked Knights twice this season at each school’s home site. Marian won both meetings by 2-0 scores.
CROSS COUNTRY
Garrett Gemmaka and Morgan Forney each earned All-Crossroads League honors with their performances at the league’s meet on Nov. 6 at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Indiana.
Gemmaka ran a time of 25:41.2 to finish eighth out of 118 runners in the 8K men’s race.
Forney led the women’s team with a time of 18:48.1 to finish 10th out of 109 runners in the 5K race.
Justis Paul was also solid for the Cougar men’s team, which finished seventh out of 10 teams with 157 points behind champion Huntington (40). Paul ran a time of 26:36.2 for the Cougars.
Ashley Brown (26th, 19:46.1) helped the women’s team finish seventh out of 10 teams with 180 points behind champion Taylor (50).
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The MVNU women’s volleyball team went out with a win on Nov. 7. The Cougars closed the regular season with a 25-22, 26-24, 28-26 victory over Grace in Crossroads League play in Winona Lake, Indiana.
The Cougars, seeded sixth, will open the league tournament at third-seeded Bethel on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Down 22-20 in the first set, Grace committed attack errors on five consecutive points to give MVNU the set win.
Ashley Stumperth’s kill in the second set tied the game at 24 before a Tory Small kill gave the Cougars (6-7, 6-7) the lead. An attack error clinched the set victory for MVNU.
MVNU was facing a set-point for the Lancers on two occasions in the third before Small came through with kills on three straight points to help the Cougars clinch the match.
Nicole Winkler had 12 kills, Small and Stumperth added nine kills and four assisted blocks apiece, and Mary Kate Harmody chipped in eight kills for MVNU. In addition, Paige Brenner had 37 assists and 19 digs, Ellie Ruby had a team-high 22 digs and Casey Bunner had 17 digs for the Cougars.
Cassidi Colbert had 10 kills, Gabbey Harrington had 35 assists and Gina Novotny had 27 digs to pace the Lancers (8-7, 8-7).
MEN’S SOCCER
Ulisses Miranda scored two goals, including the game-winner to lead Grace to a 3-2 upset win at MVNU in a Crossroads League quarterfinal on Nov. 7 in Mount Vernon.
Miranda scored off a feed by Jordan Jayapuram a little less than five minutes into the game to start a first-half scoring onslaught.
Ze Maria Goncalves added an unassisted goal to give the sixth-seeded Lancers a seemingly insurmountable lead a little more than 11 minutes into the contest.
But MVNU roared back. Jared Mount and Ben Fuller assisted Moses Magens on a Cougar goal in the 15th minute.
Joshua Orecchio scored on a penalty kick for the equalizer in the 37th minute. But Miranda answered a little more than three minutes later for what turned out to be the game-winning goal off a feed from Jayapuram.
Third-seeded MVNU had six corner-kick opportunities in the second half but couldn’t convert. Orecchio had a shot saved by Grace goalie Joe Bowles with 2:55 remaining, which was the Cougars’ last gasp.
Bowles stopped five shots for the Lancers (4-3-2); and Miranda led the team with six shots, including two on goal.
Orecchio had three shots including the one on goal, and Joshua Dunn had eight saves in goal for the Cougars (5-4).
