UA Cossatot Women's Soccer Advances to NJCAA National Champions With 3-2 Double Overtime Victory in Central District Championship over No. 9 St. Charles C.C.

The Colts (4-6) went up early, and were undeterred to fall behind to the Cougars, (17-2-2) or to receive a red card 35 minute in coming back to win in double overtime and clinch a spot in the NJCAA National Championships at the SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kan. from November 16-22.

 

Cossatot battled tough challenges all season, being down to 11 players after the second match, and playing with 10 men after the 35th minute.

 

The win also avenges a 4-3 loss earlier in the season, when the Cougars defeated the Colts in St. Charles, Mo.

 

Dahana Deis gave the Colts an early lead, running the left wing and slotting a shot into back of the net in the 9th minute.

 

A stunning top-right corner strike from STCC equalized things in the 32nd minute, before the Cougars took the lead just before halftime with a 44th minute goal after a Colts red card.

 

For the second time this season, Colts goalkeeper Nahomie Ambroise scored from a free kick in UAC's half, as the 2023 Haiti World Cup squad member booted a kick over the head of the St. Charles keeper in the 58th minute to get things equal again. This was her second goal of the season, as Ambroise also accomplished the same feat away to Hinds C.C. On Aug. 27.

 

Both sides were tied after 90 minutes and headed to overtime. Overtime rules called for two 10 minute overtimes with a two minute halftime in-between, with the golden goal rule (first goal instantly wins) in effect.

Despite a few chances for both sides and especially the Colts, things remained knotted up after the first overtime period.

 

Just under four minutes into the second overtime period, Gustave stepped up to take a free kick. Gustave booted it up the field... and into the back of the net! In just their third year of existence, UA Cossatot soccer has clinched a spot in the National Championships!

 

UA Cossatot Head Coach Justin Hinman remarked on the win, saying: "I'm beyond proud of how the girls played today. We came out playing confident out of the back and we were able to create some good chances early on, with Dahana putting us up early. We had a little bit of a lapse towards the middle of the 1st half and unfortunately conceded and then got a red card not too long after that. Being down in numbers definitely didn't help us but the girls handled the situation very well despite going down 2-1 just before the end of the 1st half." Hinman said "Our half time talk was about nothing but staying locked in and trusting your teammates ability. We weren't aiming for 2 goals, we knew we just needed one to flip the script on the game, despite only playing with 10. After we scored the 2nd, we hunkered down and defended very well and when we did possess the ball, we made St Charles work a lot defensively. In OT, we knew it was golden goal and our game plan was to do everything we could to not concede. We wanted to worry about nothing but defending and if we get an opportunity to score, we knew we had to make the chance count and we did that midway through the second OT with Angie putting a screamer of a goal on frame to get us the win."

 

Shots were 15-9 STCC, with Ambroise making seven saves in goal to keep the Colts in it.

 

Being down to 10 men vs 11 with no subs vs many subs didn't stop the Colts, who dug deep to score a win over a top 10 team.

 

The Colts are set to play again in the NJCAA National Championships in Wichita, with the date of their first match in group play TBA.