ACPHS Panthers win USCAA DII Women's Soccer National Championship

VIRGINIA BEACH. VA (ACPHS) – The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) Panthers took on conference rival and #4 seeded Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) Seawolves for the United States Colligiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Women's DII Soccer Championship. The game was very defensive-focused from kickoff. There was not a goal through a good majority of the first half. Both teams were showing how badly they wanted to be National Champions. Southern Maine was trying hard to strike first as they outshot the Panthers 9-6 in the first half. Southern Maine ultimately found the back of the net with less than 3 minutes in the first half to send the Panthers behind 1.

Coming out of the second half, you could tell the Panthers were ready for the game-tying goal. Throughout the second half, they were holding good possession and trying to find their strikers Kehano and Roemer up front for the equalizer. After 15 minutes, Shannon Donnelly and Julia Roemer connected once again this tournament to tie the game at 1. This goal marked the 9th goal Roemer scored in the tournament and Donnelly's 4th assist. After the Panthers scored Southern Maine looks a little rattled, and the Panthers started taking advantage of testing Southern Maine's goalie. They outshot the Seawolves 7-4 to end regulation and the game was going to overtime. Brodzinski also had a game in net piling up 8 saves to keep the Seawolves at one goal.

Not too much happened in overtime, where the Panthers gathered 3 shots. Those 3 shots did not find their way into the back of the net and sent the game in a penalty kick shootout for the Championship. Donnelly took over in net, and it was a back and forth battle of goals scored until Donnelly saved Seawolves penalties 5 and 8 to record two saves in net. Donnelly's second save came after Emma Russell (Brushton, NY) scored the game-winning penalty kick. This secured the National Championship for the Panthers which is a first in program history! The Panthers ended up out dueling the Seawolves 7-6 in penalties. The other Panthers to score in the penalty shootout were Julia Roemer, Ka'ena Kehano, Izzy Mancini (Galway, NY), Lindsay Beach (Ogdensburg, NY), Payge Demaio (Roxbury, NY), and Mayle Lupia-Eannace (Barneveld, NY).