The first half was a back-and-forth battle with only nine shots between the two teams (six by MVNU and three by Nyack) as the match remained scoreless at the half.

Then, in the second half, the top-seeded Lady Cougars (14-5-1) began to become more assertive on the offensive end. In the 69th minute, senior forward Kristy Brandolini (left) settled the ball in the box, made a couple moves, and fired a shot inside the far post to put MVNU on top 1-0. The goal was Brandolini’s 14th of the season and increased her school record career total to 70. She also took over the program’s career points lead as she now has 188 to move out of a tie with former Lady Cougar standout Catherine Hess who finished with 186.

MVNU stayed on the attack as the Lady Cougars finished with a 13-1 edge in shots in the second half for a 19-4 advantage for the game. In the 84th minute, sophomore defender Angie Misamore gathered a loose ball in front of the goal and ripped a shot into the back of the net to extend MVNU’s lead to 2-0. The goal was the first of her career.

Freshman goalkeeper Jenessa Loewen (right) and the Lady Cougars’ defense took things from there and capped off the team’s eighth shutout of the year as Loewen finished with two saves. Whitney Shutt stopped six shots for the Warriors (10-12-0).

“I’m excited to go back to the NCCAA National tournament,” said MVNU head coach Jonathan Meade. “It will be great to have a chance to go back and defend our title from last year. I’m really proud of the girls as this has been a season where they have just continued to get better and better to the point where we have the opportunity to go back to the National Tournament.”

“Hats off to Nyack,” Meade continued. “They played a really tough match today and are a much better team than when we played them earlier in the season (a 5-0 MVNU win). They definitely made us have to earn this win today. It was a good match and I’m proud of the girls for putting things together and finishing it off. It was a good team win today.”

The Lady Cougars will now await word as to what their seed will be and who they will play in the first round of the eight-team NCCAA National Tournament on Friday, November 16, at the Austin-Tindall Soccer Complex in Kissimmee, Florida. The semifinals will take place on Saturday, November 17, and the national championship match will be played on Monday, November 19. The tournament will be played out to all eight places with each team guaranteed to play three matches. The pairings should be available no later than Sunday.