Early goal dooms Grace at No. 14 Marian

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – An early goal was the only separation between Grace’s women’s soccer team and No. 14 Marian on Wednesday.

The Knights (14-2-3) held on for a 1-0 win against the Lady Lancers in the quarterfinals of the Crossroads League Tournament.

Grace’s loss turns the team’s focus to qualifying for the NCCAA National Championships. Regional tournament information will be determined.

“The first 10 minutes of this match were great. We executed the game plan, and we appeared like we would take off from there,” said Grace coach Michael Voss. “Unfortunately we gave up an undisciplined goal for our standards and never made a significant turn in the match, and the minutes just slipped away.”

The Lady Lancers (7-8-4) tried to jump on Marian from the kickoff and earned early chances. Corinne Villalobos tried a shot at the Knights’ goal less than a minute into the match, but Marian made a save on her shot.

Marian stunned Grace with a goal off a corner kick in the 12th minute, capitalizing off a rebounded effort for what turned out to be the game-winning moment.

Facing a 1-0 deficit at halftime, Grace picked up its attack in the second half. The Lady Lancers outshot Marian 6-5 over the final 45 minutes but to no avail.

Kristen Bellinger, Allison Vroon, Sabina Meyers and Autumn Raulerson all tried shots on goal after halftime, but Marian’s defense proved hard to crack.

Villalobos’s two shots led Grace’s offense, and Abby Schue made four saves in 90 minutes.

“On a positive note, this is nowhere near where we have played at our ceiling. It’s merely one bad day. We will break this game down and reflect on how we arrived here and switch our mindset to NCCAA,” Voss said. “I have high expectations for this group, and we will work together at our best to build from here.”

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