Box Score Santa Barbara, Calif. – Saturday's regular season finale for the Concordia women's soccer team was all about controlling what you can control.
CUI entered this week fifth in the regional rankings and just one point behind first-place Point Loma in the PacWest standings. The Golden Eagles helped their case at a postseason berth as they erased an early deficit and earned a 2-1 victory to spoil Westmont's last home game. The victory briefly boosted CUI past Point Loma with three more points in the standings.
Pending the result of Saturday night's Point Loma at Fresno Pacific match, CUI would be crowned PacWest Conference champions if FPU could pull off an upset and either beat or tie Point Loma. However, Point Loma clinched the regular season PacWest title with a 4-0 drubbing of the Sunbirds, so CUI finished in second place.
In the 35th minute,
Nikki Marino net the equalizer that deflected into the goal. Her score came barely six minutes after Westmont struck first.
About one minute before halftime, Concordia's
Madison Hall scored the go-ahead goal to stun the Warriors and send the Golden Eagles into intermission with the lead. Freshman
Ashley Grubert assisted on the critical connection.
Hall's strike wound up being the game-winner as both teams found themselves entangled in a scoreless second half.
CUI finds itself entangled in a congested race for the six available spots in the upcoming NCAA DII West Regional.
CLICK HERE for the recent NCAA West Regional Ranking and PacWest article from 11/8/23
Simon Fraser won the GNAC Tournament to snatch an at-large bid away from a team on the fringe. That appears to be Hawaii Hilo who was in the sixth and final spot in the most recent rankings. Western Washington was the top seed in the GNAC Tournament and listed fourth in the recent regional rankings. CUI soundly defeated WWU 4-0 earlier this season, which should factor in comparisons between the two schools.
In addition, Cal State San Marcos and the CCAA regular season champs from Cal Poly Pomona play Sunday in the CCAA Tournament Final. That winner will also snag an automatic bid as one of six participants in the regional playoffs. CPP was ranked No. 7 entering this weekend.
The announcement will be this Monday, Nov. 13 at 3:30 p.m. for the upcoming NCAA DII Women's Soccer playoff picture.
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI women's soccer schedule
