DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The eighth-ranked Embry-Riddle women's soccer team scored once in the first half and three times in the second to earn a spot in The Sun Conference women's soccer tournament championship game on Saturday. The Eagles, seeded No. 1 in the seven-team tournament, topped fourth-seeded Webber International 4-1 to advance and improve their overall record to 14-5.
The Eagles will be playing in their fourth consecutive conference tournament title game next Friday and will host No. 2 seed St. Thomas at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. The Lady Bobcats earned a spot in the championship with a 3-0 win over No. 3 SCAD Savannah and will meet the Eagles in the tournament final for the second straight year.
The Eagles scored the first goal of the contest at the 8:17 mark.
Krizzy Menez raced down the right side and got a shot off. WIU goalkeeper Makenzie Vance dove and managed to get and hand to the ball, but pushed it into the path of
Martine Olsen who took advantage of an empty net to bury her 14th goal of the season and put the Eagles up 1-0.
With just under 10 minutes remaining in the half, Alexis Garrand got the ball on the left flank and delivered a cross into the box where Ashley Palmer pushed it past ERAU netminder
Lauren Gallant to pull the Lady Warriors level, 1-1.
Both teams worked hard to create additional scoring chances, but neither team was able to convert, resulting in a 1-1 halftime deadlock.
The Eagles' second goal came in the 62nd minute when Menez added a goal to her assist. The play started at midfield where Olsen lifted a perfectly weighted ball into
Valerie Obita's path. The junior dribbled into the box before completing a square pass to
Katherine Ebbs. Ebbs' shot was stopped by Vance, but once again, the Warrior goalkeeper surrendered a rebound and Menez took advantage of the miscue to net her 13th goal of the year and reclaim a one-goal lead for the Blue and Gold.
Just two minutes later, Menez was in action again. This time, she delivered a short cross in to Ebbs who, for the second time in as many tries, had her shot stopped by Vance. Once again, Vance was unable to corral the shot and Obita was on hand to tap in the rebound, widening the gap to 3-1.
With under two minutes remaining Obita added the exclamation point with an unassisted score, registering her team-high 16th goal for the 4-1 final.
The Eagles bested the Lady Warriors 18-7 in shots. Webber International managed five shots on target, but Gallant came up with four saves, while her counterpart, Vance, was able to stop eight of the Eagles 12 shots on frame.
