MARION, Ind. – Central Methodist scored two first half goals to top College of Idaho 2-0 on Thursday in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round at Indiana Wesleyan University.
The Yotes (8-4-2) were making the first trip to nationals in program history after winning the East Division of the Cascade Conference with a sweep of Carroll last week.
C of I entered the Marion Bracket as the No. 4 seed, with the Eagles (19-3) the No. 1 seed in the bracket and the No. 8 ranked team overall in the most recent NAIA Top-25 Coaches Poll.
CMU started the scoring early, turning a Nelly Martinez corner into a goal. Kitti Torok earned the assist on the strike by Anika Kallash, who flicked it into the top right corner in the eighth minute.
With the score 1-0,
Maddie Smith started the attack efforts for the Yotes in the 17th minute with a 25-yard right-footed attempt that was saved by Sheila Sanchez. Shortly thereafter,
Lily Schlake and
Brooklyn Ruwe each fired shots at Sanchez to even the shot total at 3-3.
A key response followed for the Eagles in the 30th minute, as C of I keeper
Kylee Atkins punched a 30-yard ball out that ended up in a spot where Kallash was able to tally her second goal of the day, giving her a team-high 28 for the season.
The Yotes had two more shot opportunities the rest of the way, one right before the half off a free kick from the 25 and another in the 51st minute from
Madison Glascock that went wide.
For the match, statistics were relatively even, with CMU outshooting the Yotes 7-5 overall and 3-2 on frame. The Eagles had four corners to two for C of I.
Central Methodist advances to play the winner of Indiana Wesleyan and Georgia Gwinnett in the Marion Bracket Final on Saturday evening.
