North Central

This game has been a great match-up for our ladies for the past five years. Our game with North Central College are always close - unfortunately we have ended up on the losing end more often than we would like. NCC is from the tough CCIW conference in Illinois that includes Wheaton, Elmhurst, Illinois Wesleyan and a number of other schools that are powerhouses in NCAA III women's soccer. Here are our all-time scores against NCC:
2002 L 0-2
2003 L 0-1
2004 W 2-1 2OT
2005 L 0-1
2006 L 1-2 1OT
This year was no different. NCC scored early on a shot to the "upper 90", but we quickly settled in and played well. Julie Muse had a great chance on a break-away, but the NCC keeper made a nice 1v1 save on the ground. Late in the second half, Sarah Beardslee who has always been one of our greatest players under pressure, took a header from Emily Dow and stuck it in the net to even the score at 1-1. We then went to OT. The game was fairly even at this point, but I thought that our attack was stronger than theirs. Unfortunately, we were unable to score early and we committed a foul in the box that led to a penatly kick that ended the game - a tough way to lose a close match. Overall, I was pleased with the level of effort and intensity that the ladies played with. We definitely have some work to do in the area of possession. - C