“First, I want to say congratulations to our seniors on just a great four years,” said MVNU head coach Jonathan Meade, referring to the five players who played their final regular-season home match and have posted a 25-3-1 conference record with three conference titles during their four years. “They have been a part of a lot of successes and a lot of fun times. They have done a great job.”

MVNU (12-4-1, 5-1-0 AMC South) broke a scoreless tie in the 22nd minute when junior midfielder Page Miller took a through ball from senior forward Kristy Brandolini (left) and scored to give the Lady Cougars an early 1-0 lead. The goal was Miller’s seventh of the season and the 18th of her career as she moved into a tie for fifth place on the school’s all-time list.

In the 34th minute, Miller returned the favor as she slipped a pass to Brandolini for the score to make it 2-0 in favor of MVNU. The goal was Brandolini’s 12th of the season and the 68th of her career as she moved out of a tie with former Lady Cougar standout Catherine Hess and became the program’s all-time leader in goals scored.

The lead grew to 3-0 in the 38th minute when freshman midfielder Challyn Dobson gathered a loose ball in the box off a header from Miller and found the back of the net for her third goal of the year.

The Lady Jackets (4-12-1, 2-3-1) broke up the shutout in the 57th minute when Kelly Wise ripped a shot past MVNU freshman goalkeeper Jenessa Loewen to trim the lead to 3-1. Bethany Wailes and Kristin Merkel were each credited with an assist on the play.

However, that would be as close as Cedarville would get as freshman forward Jessica Estep (right) scored a pair of goals in the 77th and 79th minutes respectively to increase the lead to 5-1 and give her a team-leading 19 goals on the season including 14 goals in six conference matches. Freshman forward Jena Dickerson was credited with the assist on the first goal, while Brandolini registered her second assist of the match on the second goal. Brandolini leads the Lady Cougars with 14 assists this year and ranks second in school history with 47 career assists. She also ranks second with 183 career points and is just three points from tying the top spot.

“Kristy has done a great job and breaking the (career goals) record just made the senior day event and winning the conference title that much sweeter,” said Meade. “She’s had a great four years and really deserves the title of our career goal scorer. I’m really happy for her.”

“Jessica continues to put the ball in the back of the net,” added Meade. “We think that she is doing a great job in her first season and is off to a great start for her career.”

Senior Melissa Peters combined with Loewen and sophomore Whitney Tatko to allow just one goal while posting two saves. Amber Laing stopped 12 shots for the Lady Jackets in goal as MVNU out-shot Cedarville 28-4 including 18-3 on goal.

“I can’t say enough about the team and how they are coming together strong here at the end of the season,” said Meade. “It’s perfect timing for us to be peaking at this point. I’ve been very pleased with the play of everyone all across the field. This was definitely a team effort today.”

“It was also nice to be able earn our way back to the NAIA regional tournament,” Meade added. “We need to continue to build on this performance as we try to reach some more of our goals.”

With the victory, MVNU will be the top seed from the AMC South Division and will advance automatically to the NAIA Region IX Final Four, which will be held on November 2-3 at Cougar Field.  Houghton (N.Y.) College will also advance to the regional semifinals by virtue of winning the AMC North Division title.

Ohio Dominican University will host Urbana University on Saturday in one AMC Tournament qualifier match, while Notre Dame College will host Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) College in the other qualifier match. The two winners will join MVNU and Houghton in the NAIA Region IX Final Four with the winner of the regional tournament advancing to the NAIA national tournament in Daytona Beach, Florida on November 14-20.