#2 Ranked Johnson County Defeats Iowa Lakes 2-1 To Win NJCAA D2 Women's Soccer North Plains District Title

COLBY, Kan. – Coming up a game short last season and finishing as NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer National Runners-Up, the Johnson County Community College women’s soccer team will have another chance to make a potential title run after defeating Iowa Lakes Community College 2-1 in the NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer North Plains District Tournament Title game to qualify for the NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer National Tournament.  

Entering the postseason having allowed just five goals all year and no goals since August 24th, the Cavaliers saw their shutout streak come to a close in the opening round of postseason play but otherwise cruised through their first two games to earn the right to host the Saturday championship game against an Iowa Lakes squad that they had previously beat 3-0 this season as the Lakers pulled off two upsets in the NJCAA Region 11 Tournament to advance to the district title match.

The match proved to be much closer than the previous matchup as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 2-0 lead including a goal 12 minutes into the contest as a long free kick was sent in for a header to take the lead. JCCC doubled their lead seven minutes into the second half with a penalty kick converted by Karsen Koehler before seeing ILCC put a breakaway goal into the back of the next with just over 13 minutes remaining to put some pressure on the Cavaliers as the back line would hold out and preserve the one-goal victory.

Johnson County will enter the NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer National Tournament as one of just two unbeaten teams in the country, sporting a 17-0-3 overall record while outscoring opponents 121-7. Of the 17 victories for the Cavaliers, 15 came by shutout with just one of their wins this season coming by two or fewer goals.

The 2024 NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer National Tournament will take place November 17-23 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama as seeds are expected to be released on Wednesday, November 13th. The Cavaliers are joined by the other top three teams in the top four of the NJCAA Division 2 Women’s Soccer rankings that were released on October 28th with all but one of the eight automatic berths into the national tournament claimed by teams either ranked or receiving votes. The eight district tournament winners along with four at-large selections will be seeded and put into four pools as teams will be guaranteed at least two matches with the winners of each pool advancing to the National Semifinals.