November 15, 2016
By Christopher Sich
The Dominican University women’s soccer team saw their season come to a close on Saturday, November 5, at Viets field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Stars fell 1-0 to the No. 1 team in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) Milwaukee School of Engineers Raiders in the conference tournament championship game. After a scoreless first half, the raiders pounced on a loose ball in the box in the 54th minute and scored what proved to be the game-winner.
The loss was disappointing, but the Stars have a lot of be proud of after making a deep run in the conference tournament. The Stars took care of business in the first round winning convincingly 2-0 against No. 6 Benedictine University Eagles.
The Stars then faced No. 2 Edgewood College Eagles in the semifinals, and the game did not disappoint. The Stars had a 1-0 deficit heading into the half, but they fought back to tie the game in the 49th minute with a strike by freshman Josseline Williams that went over the outstretched hand of the goalie. The game ended 1-1, and after two scoreless 10-minute overtime periods, the game heading to penalty kicks where the Stars came out on top 4-2 and winning the game.
The Stars faced good competition all year long and have every right to hold their head up high after the nail-biting lose to the Edgewood Eagles in the NACC final.
The team graduated a lot of talent in 2015 and had a very young team so the odds were placed against them, but according to Director of Athletics Erick Baumann the Stars exceeded expectations and had a great season.
“They are a very young team, they did very well and we expect good things in the coming year,” Baumann said.
The Stars finished the season 13-6-1 and third in conference with a 7-3 record. Along with the successful run in the NACC tournament, the Stars had several players receive NACC awards.
Dominican University’s Josseline Williams was named the conference’s Freshman of the Year by the NACC, and was voted to the All-NACC Second Team alongside teammate Jackie Viola. Williams has had a very successful rookie season, scoring 13 goals and assisting on three for a total of 29 points, ranking second in the NACC in goals, points and shots (75).
Tania Paez was named to the All-NACC First Team and rounding out the awards were Alexis Hoskins and Sara Bartczyszyn who were named to the 2016 All-Freshman Team with along with Williams.
The Stars ended the 2016 season with a lot of optimism and they look forward to the beginning of the 2017 season. With such a young team, the future of Dominican University’s women’s soccer program is very bright.
sichchri@my.dom.edu