2008 Woodie Awards
Women spare no drama in tourney wins
By: Erik Zorumski
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Sports
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After a pair of stunning tournament victories over Greenville College and Maryville University, Head Coach Luigi Scire and the Webster University women's soccer team have taken home their third straight St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title.
Victory in the tournament, which was held at the Gorloks' home turf at the Anheuser Busch Soccer Park, gives Webster automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament. The 10th seed Gorloks will face No. 3 seed Washington University on Nov. 10 in the first round.
The Nov. 1 game against the Greenville Panthers remained scoreless through the first half, although WU out-shot Greenville 7-3. In the opening minutes of the second half, sophomore forward Kelsey McClure capitalized on a shot from the top of the box, putting the Gorloks up 1-0. McClure scored again 10 minutes later, assisted by freshman forward Megan Neiderschulte, widening the score to 2-0.
In the 78th minute, Greenville's Natalie Lappe took a rebound shot into the near post, putting the score at 2-1. Less than a minute later, McClure completed her hat trick on an unassisted shot into the upper 90. Greenville would be unable to answer and the score would stand at 3-1.
McClure's hat-trick leaves her with 24 goals on the season, breaking the WU single-season scoring record of 23, previously held by WU Assistant Coach Niki Martinez.
"I'm pretty excited about it," McClure said. "It was kind of my goal this season. Niki and I always joke about her having the record, so it felt pretty good to finally come out on top."
Despite a momentary defensive lapse, WU's dominant offense and strong defensive play won out, bringing them a step closer to the conference title.
"In the semifinals it doesn't matter what we've done previously, we still have to go out and play at a high level," Scire said. "We attacked them offensively and gave them nothing defensively. At this time of year, when you're in the conference tournaments, you have to play well on the ball and off the ball, and I think we did a tremendous job."
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