VANCOUVER, Wash. — Lower Columbia College women's soccer put an emphatic stamp on the regular season Saturday, shutting out Clark College 3–0 at Kim Christensen Field to secure a share of the NWAC West Region championship.
The victory brought the Red Devils' regular-season record to 13-2-5 overall and 11-1-5 in region play. Lower Columbia shares the West Region title with the Highline Thunderbirds, who earned the region's No. 1 playoff seed by virtue of a tiebreaker.
Lower Columbia wastes no time turning around for postseason action. As the West's No. 2 seed, the Red Devils will host a regional playoff match on Wednesday, November 4, at 3:00 p.m. at Longview Memorial Stadium. The winner advances to face the North Region's top seed, the Peninsula Pirates, on Saturday, November 7, in Port Angeles.
Against Clark (5-9-4, 5-8-4), Lower Columbia seized control almost immediately. Just 89 seconds into the match,
Ada Labowitz struck for her ninth goal of the season to give the Red Devils a 1–0 advantage.
From there, the Red Devils' back line and goalkeeper
Leeann Williams took over. Clark generated four shots in each half, but Williams turned away three saves, while forward
Maylee Reynolds added a crucial defensive save off the line early in the second half to keep the Penguins off the board.
Clark's comeback hopes suffered a severe blow in the 61st minute when forward Isabel McCauley picked up her second yellow card of the match, resulting in a red card that forced the host Penguins to play a woman down for the final 30 minutes.
Lower Columbia kept up the pressure, firing 14 total shots (seven on target) and earning eight corner kicks on the day. The Red Devils finally put the contest out of reach in a wild final minute of regulation.
At the 89:39 mark,
Sam Roundtree found the back of the net for her fifth goal of the year to double the margin. Only 15 seconds later,
Alyssa Gregory cleaned up another attack, slotting home her fourth goal of the season at 89:54 to seal the 3–0 shutout.
With momentum and a trophy in hand, the Red Devils now shift their focus to Wednesday afternoon's home regional match at Longview Memorial Stadium.
