Pioneers Battle Ancilla for 1-0 Win

University Center, MI – The Delta women's soccer team concluded their regular season on Sunday with a hard fought, 1-0 victory over Ancilla College.  The victory leaves the Pioneers with a 10-3 overall record on the year while finishing at 7-3 in conference play. DC will land in either second or third place in the conference depending on what Jackson Community College does in their final two games.

Delta possessed the ball very well for the entire first half, limiting Ancilla to just one shot in the entire first half.  The Chargers spent a majority of their first half minutes trying to win the ball back from the Pioneers.  Meanwhile, the Pioneers had excellent scoring opportunities, including a goal that was called back; however they could not find a way to get the ball across the line.  The score was 0-0 as the half drew to a close.

"It was a strange halftime talk," said co-head coach Paul Stenglein.  "We played so well, and had nothing to show for it.  So we asked them to be committed to find creative ways to get that critical first goal.  We discussed the need to continue to use flank attacking and have individuals dribble penetrate through their defensive back line." 

Overall, the Pioneers had numerous with eight shots on goal in the second half and 14 total corner kicks in the game.  Each time, however, Aniclla was able to get the ball cleared.  Finally, in the 75th minute, Shallon Grawey  sent a through ball to Kaitlyn Begley that ran on and met the keeper at the top of the box.  An initial touch on the ball came off the keeper and Begley was then able to loft the ball over the keeper to put in the game's only goal. 

Delta was very willing to just possess the ball for the remaining time, and only worked on scoring if there was a high probability for success.  The Pioneers let the clock run out, and was very happy to get the win and move into post season play with a two game winning streak.

"I am so proud of these girls, and their continued dedication to work hard and improve each training session and game," said Stenglein. "We are off to New York and we are so excited!"

With the regular season completed, Delta now moved on the NJCAA Division III, Region III tournament in upstate New York.  Their opponent at this time is unknown but the regional quarterfinal game will take place on Tuesday, October 25th.  Should the Pioneers win that game, they move on the regional semi-finals on Saturday, October 29th on the campus of Tompkins Cortland.  

"This regional tournament will have four of the top seven nationally ranked teams in the country," said Stenglein.  "As impressive as it is, this does not even include us and I feel that we are playing very well right now."