GRESHAM, Ore. — Midwest Division Champion/No. 10-ranked Lindenwood University received pairs of goals from Hanna Muller (Fr., East London, South Africa) and Isabella Boccia (Fr., Laguna Hills, Calif.) along with a combined five saves from Betsy Zanocco (Fr., Arlington Heights, Ill.) and Player of the Game Harmony Moran (Fr., New Lenox, Ill.) in cage to collect a 6-4 win against Southwest Division Champion/No. 11 University of California-San Diego in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by the University of Washington at Mt. Hood Community College.
The victory advances the Lions into the tournament semifinals as Lindenwood will battle Pacific Coast Division Champion/No. 2 California Polytechnic State University at 6:20 p.m. Pacific/9:20 p.m. Eastern later tonight.
The Lions will seek to reach the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship title game for the first time as Lindenwood previously tied for 15th in both 2007 at Williams College and 2008 at Mt. Hood Community College, while tying for 13th in 2011 at Notre Dame. More recently, the program placed 12th in 2012 at Florida State University, notched a Fifth Place mark in 2013 at the University of Minnesota and garnered a Seventh Place finish in 2014 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Seeking to become the first non-West Coast school to win the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship since three-time title-holder (2001, 2002, 2006) Michigan State University, Lindenwood never trailed as Muller rocked the iron with a man-up strike at the 3:12 mark of the first quarter to go ahead 1-0. UC-San Diego pulled even prior to the conclusion of the opening frame as Hannah Caskey (Sr. Garden Grove, Calif.) whipped a ball into the cage at 2:23 to deadlock the squads at one-all through seven minutes of back-and-forth action.
However, the Lions did not sleep in the second quarter to punch the program’s ticket into tonight’s semifinals as Abby VerMeer (So., Saint Louis, Mo.), Paige Miller (Fr., Bend, Ore.) and Boccia notched even-strength strikes with 5:44, 3:53 and 47 seconds on the clock, respectively, to accompany a successful five-meter penalty shot by Muller at 4:54 in blowing the game open and carrying a 5-1 lead into halftime.
The Tritons tried to rally back in the third quarter as Natalie Popescu (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) converted on a man-up chance (4:30) and McKenzie Nelson (Jr., Merced, Calif.) beat the buzzer to inch UC-San Diego within a pair at 5-3 going into the fourth quarter.
Lindenwood terminated the Tritons’ momentum with 4:44 remaining in the fourth quarter thanks to a five-meter penalty shot by Boccia to expand the gap back to three at 6-3 with under five minutes of play.
UC-San Diego attempted one final push as Kinsey Van Deynze (So., Davis, Calif.) converted a man-up bid at 2:37 to close within 6-4.
The Tritons appeared primed to shrink its deficit down to a single-score with 2:37 remaining in the game, but Moran stopped a penalty shot to kill any hopes of a UC-San Diego comeback and allow the Lions to escape with a two-goal win.
For Lindenwood, Miller and VerMeer each scored once to go along with pairs by Muller and Boccia.
Caskey, Popescu, Van Deynze and Nelson each notched single goals for UC-San Diego, while goalie Amanda Duval (Sr., Culver City, Calif.) stopped six shots in suffering the loss.
The Tritons, who are making their first appearance at the Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship, will seek to qualify for the Fifth Place game as the squad will take on host/Northwest Division Champion/No. 6 Washington at 7;30 p.m. Pacific/10:30 p.m. Eastern.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 10 Lindenwood University | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | – | 6 |
| No. 11 University of California-San Diego | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | 4 |
| UC-San Diego Goals: | Hannah Caskey; Natalie Popescu; Kinsey Van Deynze; McKenzie Nelson | |||||
| Lindenwood Goals: | Hanna Muller (2); Isabella Boccia (2); Paige Miller; Abby VerMeer | |||||
| Saves: | UC-San Diego – Amanda Duval (6) ; Lindenwood – Betsy Zanocco (1, 14 minutes), Harmony Moran (4, 14 minutes) | |||||
| Exclusions: | UC-San Diego – 4 ; Lindenwood – 9 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | UC-San Diego – 2-for-9 ; Lindenwood – 3-for-4 | |||||
| Sprints: | UC-San Diego – 1-for-4 (3rd) ; Lindenwood – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Julie Snyder, Kacie Bund | |||||
University of California-San Diego’s Cathleen Nguyen (#8) outraces Lindenwood University’s Abby VerMeer (#20)
University of California-San Diego’s Hannah Caskey (#5)
Lindenwood University’s Hanna Muller (#8) blocks the way to the cage for the University of California-San Diego’s Kinsey Van Deynze (#17)
University of California-San Diego goalie Amanda Duval (#1) makes a save against Lindenwood University
