Women's Soccer falls short of Nationals in overtime loss to Bristol in Region Championship

The CCRI Women's Soccer team traveled to Bristol Commnity College in Taunton on Saturday to take on the #1 seeded Bayhawks for the Region XXI Championship Match. The Knights were looking to make a third consecutive Nationals Appearance, while Bristol looked to achieve the feat for the first time. The game started with the Knights dominiating the midfield area. About 12 minutes in, Sloan Hogan put the Knights on top with a goal from the top of the key, 1-0. The Knights maintained major control and limited opportunities for Bristol, taking this 1-0 lead into halftime. 

In the second half, Bristol started to get a few more looks, but the Knights defense kept the ball away from any further damage. The Knights would have key opportunities to score again down the stretch, missing on a breakaway, as well as chances where the ball was crossed into the box with open space to shoot on goal. Unfortunately, the Bristol goalkeeper and the Knights own excitement kept the game in a 1-0 score. With about 8 minutes left, the referee called a foul about 10 yards above the box on the left side of the pitch for Bristol, which led to a free kick for leading Region scorer Morgan Reidl. As she does, she put a perfect ball right into the back right corner of the net, and all of the sudden, the score was tied at 1. The two teams fought till the horn sounded, and we had overtime. 

About four minutes into ovetime, Bayhawks striker Morgan Reidl had the ball in open space from about the same spot as the free kick earlier, saw her opportunity, and ripped a beautiful goal into the back right corner of the goal again to give the Bayhawks the win on a golden goal, as they advanced to Nationals. The Knights gave everything they had, and have been a pleasure to watch play this season, as they finished with a 8-1-1 record in Region play.