TUCSON, Ariz. – The No. 7 seed Johnson County Community College women's soccer team defeated No. 2 seed Northwest Mississippi Community College 2-1 on Tuesday afternoon at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz., in the final Pool B match at the NJCAA D-II National Championship.
The victory secured JCCC as the champion in Pool B and sends the Lady Cavaliers to the national semifinals in their first year competing at the Division II level. Johnson County reached the Division I national championship match in 2009, falling to Tyler Junior College.
Freshman goalkeeper Maddox Fergus and the JCCC defense held the country's No. 3 scoring offense to only one goal, and it came in the first half. Fergus finished with three saves. She now stands 8-1-0 on the season.
Trailing 1-0 into the second half, JCCC sophomore forward Megan Everhart scored the equalizer off an assist from sophomore midfielder Jillian Rogers in the 55th minute. The goal was Everhart's ninth on the season on the season and 19th of her career.
It remained tied until the 69th minute when sophomore midfielder Alandra Bailey found an opening and fired what proved to be the game winning shot, securing her eighth score on the season.
"Even though we were down 1-0 to the No. 2 team, we felt we had quality chances in the first half," said JCCC head coach Jim Schwab. "We just needed to put pressure on them and continue to create quality opportunities. Our team played well and worked extremely hard and competed for 90 minutes. We are very excited for the opportunity to play on Thursday."
Johnson County (17-3-2) will face top-seed Phoenix College (15-1-3) in the semifinals on Thursday, November 16 at 11 a.m., CST. Phoenix advanced out of Pool A by defeating Southwestern Illinois in shootout after neither team scored in two extra periods.
The Lady Cavaliers faced the Bears in their season opener this year in Phoenix, falling 3-1.
The other semifinal will feature No. 3 seed Holmes Community College (19-2-0) against No. 5 seed Jones College (15-1-1).