TOURNAMENT BRACKET
WINONA LAKE, Ind. – Two days removed from an emotional 110-minute battle, Southern Oregon finally ran out of gas late in the second round of the NAIA Women's Soccer Championships.
Grace (Ind.), the tournament's No. 7 overall seed, scored four times between the 74th and 84th minutes to run away with a 5-0 win against the Raiders on Saturday afternoon at 1st Source Bank Field. The Lancers (16-2-4) advanced to the final site in Pensacola, Fla., where they'll face No. 10 seed Truett McConnell (Ga.) in the Round of 16.
The Raiders ended their second national tournament appearance with the best record in program history at 14-3-3. A buzzsaw kept them from improving upon it.
The Lancers – who received a first-round bye after knocking off the NAIA's No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in the Crossroads League Tournament – dodged an early bullet as their keeper, Ivy Cline, made a diving stop of Kaylah Bresee's penalty kick six minutes into the contest, an opportunity that came about when Frida Vargas drew a foul in the box.
The crossbar, the post and six Brittany Standley saves limited the Lancers to one first-half goal. It gave them the lead in the 37th minute off the foot of Cassidy Felger, who gathered a cross up close that was just out of Standley's reach and left Felger uncontested.
The onslaught started late, condensed within a span of 10 minutes just a few after the Lancers hit the crossbar a second time. Aubrey Abel opened it by slotting in a shot from the top of the box in the 74th minute. Felger followed with her 19th goal of the season, and Abby Hodkin tallied the next two.
Grace placed 11 of its 20 attempts on target. The Raiders totaled six shots and Cline kept them off the board with three saves.
The Lancers are unbeaten in their last nine games and have surrendered only two goals during the streak.
The result ended the SOU's unbeaten streak at seven games. It had been extended with Thursday's 1-1 draw in the first round against Morningside (Iowa), which SOU got past in a penalty-kick shootout.
Of the 16 players who saw the field for the Raiders, six were appearing for the last time: Standley, Vargas, Mia Ammons, Miller Bertani, Lucia Finney and Emily Hyde. Bertani, the Cascade Conference Defensive Player of the Year, made her 68th career start on Saturday.