Photo Courtesy of SCC Women’s Soccer [Twitter]

By Tim Kaiser, Editor-in-Chief

St. Louis Community College ended the SCC women’s soccer team’s run in the Region 16 tournament with a 2-0 win in Kansas City. The Lady Cougars made a monumental leap from last season as they finished 12-8 and just two wins away from the NJCAA National Championship. Their success led to seven players being named to the all-region teams.

The Lady Cougars finished third in Region 16 during the regular season with a record of 1-2. The regional tournament was played in the course of a weekend, Nov. 1-2, in Kansas City. SCC opened with the two-seed, MCC-Blue River. In their only meeting in the regular season, Blue River won 1-0 at SCC. However, the Lady Cougars came up big when it mattered most as they won the semifinal game 3-0 off goals from Ashlynn Reiter, Hayley Miller, and Rachael Harris. In the championship game, SCC ran into the buzz saw that is St. Louis CC and a 2-0 defeat. St. Louis finished undefeated in regional play, won the regional tournament, and has continued their run all the way to nationals.

For most teams ending the season two wins away from nationals would be a good season, but considering the leap SCC has made from last season it is staggering. Coming off a 1-10 season in 2012, a combination of fresh blood and the maturation of the second-year players led to a winning record. The Lady Cougars were led in scoring by Christina Conley (12) and in assists by Alyssa Coons (13).

The turnaround season did not go unnoticed when all-region teams were announced. Four sophomores and three freshmen made the team further illustrating the team’s balance. See full list of honorees below.

Looking ahead to next year, the Lady Cougars are going to have some big shoes to fill. SCC is losing 35 percent of this year’s goal scoring including two of the top five, Reiter and Miller. They are also losing three of the four defensemen with the most starts this season. One position Coach Slayback seemingly will not have to worry about is goalkeeper. Freshman Katie Martin started this year and made the Region 16 All-Region First Team.