Spartan Women Lose Heart breaker in NAC Tournament Championship

AURORA, Ill. November 8, 2008 - The Aurora University Spartan women’s soccer team suffered an emotional loss to the Edgewood College Eagles 1-0 in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon at Vago Field.

With the victory, the Eagles receive the Northern Athletics Conference automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Championships.

The game seemed to be very evenly matched as neither team was able to make effective offensive attacks. Edgewood was awarded a corner kick with less than a minute to play in the first half and took advantage of their opportunity. Eagle sophomore defender Melinda Schwab crossed a ball to freshman midfielder Kelsey Beck who headed it passed Spartan junior goalkeeper Jenny Jarvis. The goal was Beck’s ninth of the season.

The second half was once again a mid-field game in which neither team could penetrate into the scoring zone.

Spartan senior Allison Bailey had the best chance for the Spartan’s in the second half when she took a difficult shot that was stopped by Eagle junior goalkeeper Ilana Bar-Av.

The Spartans did all they could to get their offense going but the Eagle defense was able to shut them down.

The Spartans took six shots in the game to the Eagles two. Jarvis (16-6) went the distance in goal for the Spartans as did Bar-Av (16-3-2) for the Eagles.

With the loss, the Spartans (16-6 overall, 11-1 NAC) who won the regular season NAC championship, will have to wait until Monday, November 10, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. to find out if they will continue their season in the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Tournament.