Lady Crusaders Book Spot in Quarterfinal

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Three things are certain in life, death, taxes, & Christina Salmon scoring goals. Salmon's brace lead the Lady Crusaders to a 2-0 victory over Indiana Wesleyan in the NAIA National Tournament Round of 16.

"Any game in the national tournament is hard to win." Said senior captain Lauren Jones. " We knew that coming in we would have to work hard for the full 90 minutes and I think we definitely did that"

The opening 10 minutes was a cagey affair with both teams trying to feel each other out. Neither team wanted to risk too much going forward to not give anything up at the back. Both teams had chances that forced saves out the opposition keepers. Carey's best chance came from Esalenna Galekhutle as she dribbled past two defenders and fired straight at Avery Sluss from 20 yards out. Madelyn Welker had her sides best chance of the opening passages of play as her shot from just inside the penalty area forced a sprawling save from Nerea Pallas Padilla.

Both Carey and Indiana Wesleyan went through spells of dominance in the first half with neither team able to grab a consistent footing in the game. The Lady Crusaders best spell came between the 10th and 25th minutes. Two back-to-back corners saw Karen Vilau nearly score directly from the corner before Ella Jefcoat headed just over at the back post from the second.

Vilau nearly opened the scoring again. An excellent turn by Virginia Mesa led to her setting Vilau just inside the box who flicked the ball just wide of the right-hand post. Carey's & Vilau's next best chance came as she cut in from the left-hand side and fired a curling effort just wide.

The Lady Wildcats' best chances of the half came within a minute of each other. Katelyn VanderArk drove down the left side and fizzed a ball across the six yard but, fortunately for the Lady Crusaders, their was no Lady Wildcat on hand to tap in. Less than 60 seconds later and it was VanderArk again looking to break the deadlock. VanderArk pounced on a Carey defensive mistake, and hoping to catch Padilla out of position, took an early shot from distance but fired wide.

35 minutes in and Carey broke the deadlock, courtesy of the NAIA's leading goalscorer. Some neat one-touch passing between Galekhutle and Vilau created space for Vilau to fire a ball into the feet of Salmon inside the penalty area. Salmon used her strength to hold off the IWU defender before taking a touch across her body and firing the ball past a helpless Sluss.

The second half would be a story of missed chances for the Lady Crusaders as they hit the woodwork four times.

Carey nearly doubled their advantage twice in the opening four minutes. Vilau and Mesa combined in the second minute before Mesa hit over and then some miscommunication between the same pair allowed a second chance to go begging.

IWU thought they had found their equalizer in the 53rd minute. VanderArk again at the heart of it, drove down the right side and fizzed another ball across the six-yard box. Some excellent defending from Argentina Estrada squashed the chance and didn't allow the shot before clearing the ball from danger.

Carey's first chance of the post came in the 61st minute. A Galekhutle cross found the feet left foot of IWU defender Macy Browning who sliced a clearance off her own post. The rebound fell to the feet of Salmon who was unable to turn her effort goalwards.

Five minutes later it was Vilau's turn to hit the crossbar. Vilau picked the ball up 30 yards from goal, took a couple of touches and looked to lob a shot over Sluss only for it to hit the crossbar and go over.

74 minutes on the clock and the Lady Crusader's had thought they'd added to their lead. an in-swinging corner from Rocio Fernandez found the head of Salmon at the front post who flicked the ball over Sluss and onto the crossbar. Mesa managed to get her head on the rebound at the back post and forced a save from Sluss. Sluss' save tapped the ball onto the head of Livia Pertl whose header looped just over the bar.

Next in line to hit the post was Alyssia Davis. Some strong running down the right-hand side allowed Salmon to square a ball across to the six-yard box. Davis, unmarked at the back post, couldn't turn her effort goalwards as she hit the post, and Carey couldn't capitalize on the rebound.

With three minutes left on the clock Carey had found the insurance goal they were searching for and there were no surprises as to who got it. Just as the ball looked like it was going out for an IWU throw-in, some excellent work from Mesa allowed her to wrestle the ball from the defender and keep the ball in play. Mesa then fed the run of Salmon. Salmon drove past her defender and into the box. 1-on-1 with the keeper, Salmon took her touch around Sluss and tapped the ball into the empty net to send Carey on their way to the NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinal for the 8th year in a row.

"Really proud of the girls in the way they played today." Said Head Coach Danny Owens. "Indiana Wesleyan are a tough team, and we managed to get two goals and a clean sheet. I thought we defended very well, and we just take this one and move onto the next."

Jones added "We're excited about the win but now that it's done we put it behind us and focus on recovering and preparing for Thursday."

The Lady Crusaders will take on the winner of Mid-America Nazarene and Columbia (Mo.) in Thursday's quarterfinal. That game will get underway on December 5th at 4 PM.