Raptors Women's Soccer Finishes Season Fourth in the Nation!
The Montgomery College women's soccer team won the Region XX/District H Championships to advance to the NJCAA DIII National Championship Tournament in Toms River, NJ. The Raptors finished the season fourth in the country after a 7-2 victory over #7 Nassau Community College, a shootout lose in the semifinals to Erie CC and 5-3 lose to Brookhaven. Sophomore Nathaly Alvear finished the season leading the nation in assists with 33, twice as many as anyone else in the country.
Montgomery College entered the National Championship Tournament as the #2 seed and played the #7 seed Nassau CC (13-3-1) in the quarter finals. The game was scoreless through 40 minutes of play until Nathaly Alvear found Brittany Schultz who beat the Nassua goalkeeper to score her sixth goal of the season to put MC on the board.
Three minutes later, Ariella Amaguana put a ball down the sideline to Claire Couturier who blew past the defense and scored to put MC up 2-0 at halftime. Things got shaky as Nassau tied the game up scoring two goals back to back to tie the game up coming out of halftime. MC team captain Josselyn Flores got the team back on track with an unassisted goal in the 65th minute. After that Nassau couldn't force the ball out of their end of the field. The next twenty minutes Montgomery put on a clinic as Amaguana scored twice, Stefania Medrano scored once and Flores scored once more to wrap up the 7-2 victory in the quarterfinals.
Highlights of the quarter final match: https://youtu.be/wD0yPsTf5Jw
The next day, the Raptors faced #3 Erie Community College (17-2-1) in the quarter finals. Erie got on the board early with two quick goals in the first five minutes of play. It wasn't until forty minutes later when Medrano took the ball from the Erie defense and scored in the 44th minute.
Five minutes after halftime Alvear put a perfect ball over the defense to a speedy Amaguana who ripped a shot that went off the goalie's hands and went in to tie the game 2-2. The game remained tied through regulation and through two 10-minute OT periods to go to penalty kick to decide the winner. The Erie outscored the Raptors 4-3 in the penalty kicks to advance and MC would play in the third place consolation match.
Highlights of the semifinal match: https://youtu.be/JMzw5FKLiuc
Montgomery would fall to Brookhaven in the consolation match 5-3. The match was back and forth through the first half with goals from Amaguana and Alejandra Ramos. The match was tied 2-2 at the midway mark and five minutes out of halftime Claire Couturier scored to give the Raptors a one-goal lead. Brookhaven was able to score three unanswered goals to win the 3rd place match.
Highlights of the 3rd place match: https://youtu.be/n8IrL2TnQLM
The Raptors had a remarkable season finishing 17-3-1, winning the MDJUCO Title, the Region XX Title, the District H title and finishing fourth in the nation. The team scored 103 goals this season which is second most behind the national champions SUNY Broome.Everything about this team says champions!
Congratulations to Coach Nana, his staff and the MC Raptors women's soccer team for a great season!