By MIKE MONTFORT
WICHITA, Ks. – Ninth-ranked Navarro Soccer narrowly survived the at-large cut to qualify for the NJCAA Tournament, but was unable to advance to its first national semifinal appearance since 2014.
Coach Alicia Wilson's Bulldogs (11-3-6) , appearing in their 11th national tournament and fourth since 2018, seemed to do everything right here at Stryker Sports Complex and followed the yellow-brick road to the Final Four. They picked up Pool C's only win, scored a pool-high six goals and yielded only two, but were squeezed out of the semifinals by winless sixth-seed Arizona Western's two ties and its penalty-kick shootout wins.
AWC's Lady Matadors (15-1-2) tied 10th-seeded Navarro and third-seeded Monroe by identical 1-1 scores after 110-minute matches, but advanced based on PK wins of 5-4 against the Bulldogs and 4-2 against Monroe Community College.
Navarro's heartbreaking dismissal was closely akin to its 2021 tournament pool play in Melbourne, Fl., that ended in a double-knotted tie when Seminole State emerged and suffered a 3-0 semifinal loss to Eastern Florida Starte. In the pool that became a quagmire, Navarro tied Seminole State (0-0) and Snow (2-2), and SSC's Trojans and Snow's Badgers tied 1-1.
The Sunday start of Navarro's 2023 tournament could not have been better.
(10) NAVARRO 5, (3) MONROE CC 1
Tenth-seeded Navarro took advantage of an own-goal at 24:54, reinforced it within a minute on Latifha Pascal's goal, and then tacked on three unanswered scores in the second half to bury third-seeded Monroe Community College 5-1 in the Pool C opener Sunday.
The opening win was a huge lift for the at-large qualifying Bulldogs (11-3-5) from Region XIV against the tradition-rich Tribunes who had participated in 33 post-season soccer tournament championships.
Pascal found the net at 25:39 for her third goal of the season that padded Navarro's lead, shortly after the own-goal already had stunted Monroe and goalie Clare Boesel.
Almost eight minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs extended their lead to 3-1 on Anatu Sadat's third goal of the year
Leading NJCAA pointmaker Constance Agyemang (63) assisted on Sadat's goal at 53:29 and scored unassisteds at 77:05 and 81:17 to widen Navarro's margin. Agyemang, now ranks fifth in Navarro single=-season goals (24) and eighth in assists (15).
(6) ARIZONA WESTERN 1, (10) NAVARRO 1
Sixth-seeded Arizona Western Lady Matadors scored a goal in the 87th minute to force overtime before beating Navarro 5-4 in penalty kicks Monday.
AWC came close to opening the scoring on two occasions, hitting the bar twice on shots from outside the box as the game remained scoreless until the Navarro Bulldogs broke through in the 82nd minute, taking the lead on Azucena Martinez' shot from the edge of the box.
Martinez nailed her 10th goal of the season after taking a feed from Agyemang.
The Lady Matadors grabbed the equalizer in the 87th minute when Yuna Aoki mashed a free kick into the upper corner at the back post.
After 20 minutes of overtime, the game went to penalty kicks where the Lady Matadors missed their first two shots but converted on the next five attempts while Navarro put its final shot over the crossbar.
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POOL C STANDINGS
Arizona Western (0-0-2) (*PK, 5-4) (*PK, 4-2)
Navarro…………… (1-0-1)
Monroe CC………. (0-1-1)
