Box Score LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The Felician University women's soccer team was eliminated from the 2017 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championship tournament with a 2-0 quarterfinal loss to host, CACC regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Georgian Court University on Tuesday afternoon at Investors Savings Bank Field.
Felician, the tournament's No. 8 seed, sees its season come to an end with a final won-lost-tied record of 5-11-1. The Golden Falcons, playing in the CACC playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, met the same fate, on the same field, as their 2016 squad, which lost, 3-0, to GCU in the league quarterfinals.
Georgian Court (14-3-2), ranked No. 9 in the most recent NCAA Division II East Region coaches' poll, moves on to host No. 4 seed Goldey-Beacom College at 11 a.m. during Thursday's semifinals.
"Any time you lost a tournament game, it's tough," said 10th-year Felician head coach Thomas Notte. "But we played a strong, competitive game, and as a coach, that's all you can ask for. We played with our hearts for 90 minutes. Georgian Court is a very competitive team, and there's a reason why they went 12-0 in our conference."
On Tuesday, GCU sophomore Kaitlin Lister (Toms River, N.J.) scored a pair of first half goals, and the Lion defense made them stand up. Lister knocked on the door in the ninth minute, when she had a shot hit the bottom of the crossbar, bounce straight down, and be cleared. But after another eight minutes, Lister found the back of the net. She broke free on the right flank, cut toward the middle of the middle of the 18-yard box, and finished an unassisted score at the 16:20 mark.
In the 32nd minute, Lister collected a pass from Lion senior Rosa Franze (Ocean, N.J.), took a touch, and converted from a difficult angle outside of the left post. Both teams got shots off in the final minute of the period before the hosts carried the 2-0 lead into intermission.
Georgian Court upped its pressure in the second half, out-shooting the Golden Falcons, 17-3. However, Felician freshman goalkeeper Jamie Kazenmayer (Forked River, N.J.) kept her team within striking distance with eight saves in the period. Felician, meanwhile, had several opportunities to go to goal, but most were broken up by the Lion defense before shots could be created.
Kazenmayer finished with 11 saves, her second-highest total of the season. Georgian Court ran up statistical edges of 27-8 in shots and 5-1 in corner kicks. Lister led all players with six shots; senior Amanda Nowak (Kolbuszowa, Poland) had three for the Golden Falcons. GCU sophomore keeper Natalie Axelsson (Galloway, N.J.) made three stops to earn the shutout.
Felician bids farewell to five four-year seniors – Magdalena Brodka (East Rutherford, N.J.), Dina Ingenito (Lyndhurst, N.J.), Katina Kozlowski (Milton, N.Y.), Nowak, and Danielle Stoll (Wanaque, N.J.). The group reached four conference tournaments and made two semifinal appearances. Nowak is tied for second at Felician in career goals, and Stoll is ninth all-time in assists.
"I'm sad to see this group go," Notte said. "They've contributed a great deal to soccer at Felician."
