NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – November 6, 2021 – The Chatham women's soccer team sought out to make history on a crisp November evening in the PAC Championship at Westminster. The Cougars did just that, not only repeating as PAC champions but also becoming the first women's team to qualify for an NCAA tournament, dethroning #1 seeded Westminster 4-3 in double overtime.
It was a tale of two halves, with the first 45 minutes being a defensive oriented half and the second being an offensive onslaught between the two. The defense stood tall in the first half, not allowing a shot on goal compared to the Cougars four on goal.
Lightning struck twice for the Cougar offense to get the scoring started. First-year
Lauren Hall collected her first career points, an assist on a goal scored by junior
Greta Mort in the 53
rd minute. The second goal was scored in the box by graduate
Kyla Kelley a little over 10 minutes later to make the score 2-0 Cougars.
Westminster got one back in the 64
th minute, but senior
Morgan Anderson responded 28 seconds after the ensuing Titan goal after a double assist from junior
Olivia Wood and sophomore
Malia Hinton. However, Westminster scored twice in the 71
st and 75
th minutes to even the game at 3-3, which held after 90 minutes.
The first overtime featured a few good shots from the Cougars, four to be exact, but they were unable to break through and the score remained put after the first overtime stanza. Then, it was junior
Emily Harvey who won the game in the 103
rd minute. Harvey was assisted by Anderson and by junior goalkeeper
Tyler Colburn, which was the latter's first career assist.
Chatham outshot Westminster on goal 10-7 but were outshot by a total of 22-20. Colburn made four saves in net, all coming in the second half. Seven Cougars played all 103 minutes, including Colburn, Harvey, Anderson, Hinton, junior
Greta Mort, junior
Paxton Steffy and senior
Emily Martz. Anderson led all players on the pitch with three shots on goal. Steffy, Harvey and Kelley all lazered two shots on net and Mort added another.
The win marks Chatham's third ever PAC championship in any sport since joining the Presidents' Athletic Conference in 2007 and second for the women's soccer team in as many years. The Cougars earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament, the first women's team in school history to achieve this feat. They will find out their next opponent in the NCAA Division III Selection Show on Monday, November 8 at 1:00. There will be an on campus viewing party.
