GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (November 10, 2023) – Denison University women’s soccer’s 2023 season came to an end in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament as the Milwaukee School of Engineering, a strong team now with 20 wins on the season, held on for a 2-1 win over the Big Red.
The Big Red were awarded an early corner kick by Callie Davis in the opening minute of the match, but MSOE had three straight corner kicks in the fifth minute, leading to a save by Molly Noga on the first shot of the match early in the sixth minute.
After five corner kicks for MSOE in the first five and a half minutes of the match, the speed for MSOE began to show early as the Raiders had a one-one-one scoring opportunity in the seventh minute, but Noga was able to deflect the ball away off her leg.
Noga added an easy save in the 23rd minute as the Raiders took an aggressive approach and tried to push the ball up field with the long ball while Denison took a more methodical approach and looked to build its attack from the midfield.
It was best-on-best as Denison’s Kate Dalimonte and Sarah Sollinger did their best to contain MSOE’s Leena Afifi, who missed wide left in the 13th minute, had a pair of shots blocked in the 25th and 26th minutes, missed left again in the 37th and 38th minutes, and then challenged Noga to make two more saves in the 42nd and 43rd minutes.
Denison’s lone shot of goal of the first half came in the 40th minute when Eliza Roach’s attempt was stopped by Reagan Tompkins. In all, Denison was outshot 10-2 in the first half while Noga made five saves.
After putting up seven shot attempts in the first half alone, Afifi was able to keep a contested ball against Sollinger in play on the endline and then tapped it past Noga to her teammate Elizabeth Kuhn for the first goal of the match less than three minutes into the second half.
The Big Red continued to double and at times, triple team, Afifi, who in the second half, allowed her teammates to take over as Kuhn scored her second goal in a span of five minutes.
A powerful shot to the bottom right by Kuhn in the 62nd minute nearly resulted in her third goal of the match but just missed wide.
The Raiders continued to play more aggressively and keep the Big Red from being able to string passes together and make any real threat toward a goal. After another save by Noga in the 73rd minute, Denison tried desperately to attack, but a shot by Avery Butler in the 74th minute was way too high.
Then seemingly out of nowhere, Denison’s energy level went way up as some fancy footwork and possession in the box by Davis setup Roach for a goal from outside the 18-yard box and into the opposite upper-90 of the goal in the 81st minute, breathing some life back into the Big Red.
In the 84th minute, Dalimonte nearly scored the equalizer with a strong strike on a free kick that had a chance to go in if it was just a little bit higher, but instead MSOE’s second goalkeeper Megan Lacina was there for the save.
That would end up being the last gasp for the Big Red, who ultimately were done in by a strong first eight minutes of offense to start the second half for the Raiders.
Denison finished with eight total shots and four shots on goal, and was led by Butler and Roach with two shots each while Noga set a new career-high in saves with seven.
The Big Red finished their first season under Head Coach Sarah Brink 8-5-6 overall while winning the fifth North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament in program history and making the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. MSOE, meanwhile, improved to 20-1-3 and will now advance to play against No. 17 nationally-ranked Calvin University in the second round of the tournament.
