A nice birthday gift for TMU soccer player
TMU insider: Women’s team secures bid to NAIA tourney
The six words were catchy after a patchy performance. The sentence was smooth after a choppy 1-0 win over visiting Olivet Nazarene University on Saturday.
“Birthday girl sends us to ’Bama,” The Master’s University coach Curtis Lewis said, summing up TMU’s effort in the NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship Opening Round.
A day after her birthday, senior Victoria Gama scored the game-winner eight minutes before halftime to secure a bid to the NAIA final site competition in Orange Beach, Alabama, next week.
It’s the Mustangs’ first trip to the final 16 since 2014.
“We definitely had a bend but don’t break mentality on defense,” Lewis said. “We had a hard time connecting today. The wind was tough and the opponent was big and organized. We’ve struggled against big teams, so to face one of those big teams and grind it out 1-0 at this point in the year, that’s what
you need.”
TMU’s Kaylee Poffek made three saves in what Lewis deemed her best performance as a keeper. Defenders Laura English, Kayla Peterson and West Ranch graduate Gianna Crimi continued to stonewall opponents on the back line.
Master’s has posted two shutouts in three postseason games after mixing and matching on defense most of the year.
English also provided the assist on the day’s only goal, a high-arcing pass that fell to the feet of Gama. She did the rest for her second goal of the season.
The Mustangs, the tournament’s No. 11 seed, will play Tennessee Wesleyan on Nov. 28.
Wesleyan upset No. 6 Keiser University in the opening round.
3 Mustangs earn All-American honors
Three TMU cross country athletes finished in the top 30 and claimed All-American honors at the NAIA National Championships on Saturday. Two were Santa Clarita Valley products. Hart High graduate Mikala Fairchild finished 24th, five spots ahead of Saugus grad Abigail Frankian.
Skyler Mikesell’s 26th-place finish led the TMU men to a 19th-place team finish.
The Master’s women finished a closer-to-expected 12th behind their two All-Americans — which matched a singleseason program high — and third-runner Rachelle Nelson. Nelson, a freshman, came in 54th place. “I’m really excited about her,” coach Zach Schroeder said of Nelson. “She’s going to be a really strong performer for us.”
Nelson helped the Mustangs to the program’s first Golden State Athletic Conference title earlier this month. At the same meet, TMU’s men earned an eighth straight GSAC title. But the momentum didn’t carry over to nationals, where the men had finished a school-best fifth a year ago.
Schroeder looked to the men’s team’s response as a silver lining.
“I guess today was a display of who had that racing maturity more than anything,” Schroeder said. “We were a little bit disappointed, but I was really excited about how my guys responded to that. It was a great display of character. They were very disappointed, but they handled that very well.”