By Logan Miller, staff reporter.
Delta College’s women’s soccer team had its last regular season game on Sunday, Oct. 16, playing against Ancilla College.
The first 45 minutes of the game were scoreless, with both teams disrupting the opposing offenses through aggressive, physical defense. There was lot of sliding and nudging as they chased the ball down the sidelines.
The Pioneers had 10 shots on goal and 14 total corner kicks. They held Ancilla college to only one shot on their goal. Kaitlyn Begley, a Delta College player, scored a goal against Ancilla in the 75th minute.
“I made a run through the Ancilla Defense, and Shallon Graywey put a really nice ball through that I ran on to. The goalie came out, and on a bounce, I knocked it over her head and into the goal,” Begley says.
The Pioneers held off Ancilla for the remainder of the game, winning 1-0. The team’s season ended with an overall record of 10-3 and a conference record of 7-3. Coach Paul Stenglein was enthusiastic and upbeat about the win, congratulating the opposing team on a hard fought and competitive game.
“[I was] very pleased with the girls. Ancilla is a very good team. [They] played very good defense against us,” Stenglein says. Stenglein says the team has played well against difficult opponents this year. “The team has been cohesive. Two of our losses have been to nationally ranked teams,” says Stenglein.
The Delta soccer team now shifts out of the regular season and on to a new challenge in the upcoming weeks.
“We are very excited to head to New York Monday to represent Delta College and all of our home towns. It’s been a lot of hard work and we finally broke through the top 10 national ranking at nine so it’s very exciting that we will be nationally ranked at the tournament,” says Begley.
They will compete in the NJCAA Division III, Region III tournament. Their first game will be played on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
