Hawks Advance to Region 20 Tournament Championship with 4-3 Win Over Potomac State

The College of Southern Maryland women's soccer team beat the WVU Potomac State College Catamounts 4-3 on October 26 in the NJCAA Region 20 Division II Tournament Semifinals.

The Catamounts created the most chances between the two sides to start the game, as they had outshot CSM 11-4 after 30 minutes of play. However, it was the Hawks who scored first in the 33rd minute. Freshman midfielder/forward Kendall Flerlage sent her pass from the midfield through to sophomore forward Savannah McBain, who took a touch on the ball, shielded off a defender, and powered her shot low past the Potomac State goalkeeper to put the Hawks up 1-0.

CSM maintained their one-goal lead at halftime even with the Catamounts continuing to put more shots on goal by a count of 3-1 over the final 12 minutes.

The Hawks started the second half quickly, as freshman midfielder Madelyn Minichino made the score 2-0 in the 47th minute. Sophomore midfielder Micaiah Lloyd took a pass from freshman forward Gabriela Rodriguez along the left sideline and drove to the goal line. After drawing two Potomac State defenders to her, Lloyd found a cutting Minichino at the top of the goal box, who got a shot off with a defender on her and found the back of the net.

CSM kept their feet on the gas pedal, with sophomore outside back Gabriela Adamo scoring nearly a minute and a half later to give the Hawks a 3-0 advantage. Adamo played a give-and-go pass with Rodriguez again near the left sideline, took one touch to get around a Potomac State defender, shot, and scored.

Both Minichino's and Adamo's goals were their first of the season.

Potomac State got their first goal in the 51st minute, but CSM responded minutes later to retake their three-goal lead. Almost a mirror image of McBain's goal earlier in the game, Minichino sent her pass from the midfield to a charging Lloyd into the box, who took her touch around the Potomac State goalkeeper and scored easily into a wide-open net.

Potomac State scored in the 60th minute to get within two. The Hawks kept Potomac State's offense at bay until the 89th minute when the Catamounts made things interesting after a rainbow shot from well outside the penalty box on the right side barely found its way over a leaping CSM goalkeeper Mackenzie Miller and under the crossbar to bring the score to 4-3.

The Hawks withstood the last desperate flurry from the Catamounts in the final minute to hold on to the victory and secure the program's first postseason victory in three years.

This is also the program's first trip to a regional championship game in eight years. CSM made it to the Region XX Championship game on November 1, 2014 but lost 2-1 to the Harford Community College Fighting Owls.

Up Next: CSM faces the CCBC Essex Knights in the Region 20 Division II Tournament Championship game on Saturday, October 29 at 12 p.m. at CCBC Dundalk.