CAMPBELLSVILLE, Kent. -- With the regular season having come and gone, the Covenant Lady Scots soccer team took their 10-6-1 record to the post-season as the #2 seed in the NCCAA Mid-East region tournament last week. Being the #2 seed, Covenant got the chance to match up against a once common opponent: King College. Covenant and King, both former members of the Appalachian Athletic Conference, have been consistently dominant over the last decade. Each has earned a regular season title in the AAC, and both have been serious contenders for NCCAA regional and national championships. Since 2005, the Lady Scots have owned a 3-6-1 head-to-head record against King, with the Tornado handing the Lady Scots post-season losses from 2006 to 2008. Yet again, when these familiar foes met in the postseason in 2010 with a birth to the NCCAA Mid-East finals on the line, King's 4 goals proved too much for the Lady Scots to overcome.
It did not take King long to get on the board. In the 7th minute, Morgan Shelton got a chance at a goal that she did not waste, putting her shot in the back of the net to give King the early 1-0 lead. In a matter of two minutes, the Lady Tornado had another chance at a goal, and with striking similarity, Maggie Lynskey made the most of her chance as well and pushed the score to 2-0. After these quick goals from King, the Lady Scots had to find a way to stop the bleeding. Their defense stepped up and tried to get the momentum back with stellar play once again by senior keeper Bethany Holman. Holman had 4 big saves in the first half, doing her best to keep the game within reach. Even the crossbar was friendly to the Lady Scots as it did its part to keep a Lady Tornado shot out of the net. With two early goals, the Lady Scots managed to put pressure on King goal-keeper Abbey Kitts with three shots that demanded saves. But as halftime arrived, the Lady Scots were staring at a 2-0 deficit.
In the second half, the Lady Scots managed only 3 shots and gave up 2 more goals, one in the 56th minute and another in the 65th. As the final buzzer sounded for the last time this season, the Lady Scots had been knocked out of the Mid-East region tournament, and their hopes of making the trip to nationals had all but diminished. King went on to win the region tournament and the automatic bid to nationals, beating Campbellsville University 1-0 in overtime of the championship game.
Covenant finished the year with a 10-7-1 record, with 6 of its wins coming at home. The Lady Scots scored 32 goals this season and averaged 1.78 goals per game. Lauren Probst lead the team with 11 goals, and behind her, there were three Lady Scots tied with 4 goals apiece. In the assist category, seniors Kasey Craft and Caitlin Ezell along with Eliza Drew shared the lead with 5 each. Most impressively, senior keeper Bethany Holman played 1610 minutes in front of the net this season and had 82 saves, 8 shutouts, and a 0.95 goal against average.
