Contact: Nathan Cameron, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7243

GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dec. 3, 2021) - The national stage was set on Friday morning, as the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Tournament Semifinals kicked off on the campus of University of North Carolina Greensboro. Making their first-ever appearance in the Final Four, the No. 9 Loras College women's soccer team (21-1-2, 8-0-0 A-R-C) faced the No. 5 Christopher Newport University Captains and forced the game into overtime after regulation ended in a scoreless standstill but the Captains held off the Duhawks to advance. 

The Duhawks jumped on the Captains early in the first half, setting up a number of excellent scoring opportunities and taking advantage of corner kicks where junior All-American midfielder Payton McDonnell has excelled all season long. In the first half, the Duhawks rifled off five total shots and earned five corner kicks while not giving any corner kick opportunities to the Captains. 

The score remained at a 0-0 halt through the first half of regulation, seeing the Captains come out of the halftime break hard, putting off ten shots in the second half as their offense came alive. The Duahwks' defense, anchored by junior All-Region defender Olivia Lansing and sophomore goalkeeper Kyndal Kells, shut down any scoring opportunity Christopher Newport had with Kells making a trio of impressive saves in the second half to keep the Captains off the scoreboard. 

With the score still unchanged after regulation, the two undefeated top-10 foes battled in overtime but Christopher Newport's leading goal scorer Riley Cook capitalized on a scoring opportunity to end the game in overtime to see the Captains advance in the tournament. 

Kells' impressive showing in net saw the sophomore keeper make five saves while the Duhawks' back line kept the Captains at bay, holding them to just six shots on goal in the game. 

Loras closes out their history-making season with one United Soccer Coaches All-American, two All-Region performers, seven All-Conference honorees, American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Coaching Staff of the Year, A-R-C Regular Season Champions, and A-R-C Tournament Champions.