OLATHE, Kan. -- The Lindsey Wilson College women's soccer team found itself in unfamiliar territory tonight against a familiar foe in the NAIA national semifinals.
The second-seeded Blue Raiders trailed for the first time in almost two months when third-seeded and defending national champion Martin Methodist (Tenn.) College scored in the game's 10th minute.
But the Blue Raiders recovered to score two second-half goals and win 2-1, advancing to Tuesday night's NAIA title match. It was LWC's third victory this season over the Martin Methodist.
LWC (23-2-0) will play top-seeded Azusa Pacific University (21-1-0), who posted a 3-1 victory over fifth-seeded Concordia (Ore.) University (20-2-2) in the other semifinal match.
Tuesday's final begins at 6 p.m. CST at the College Boulevard Activity Center.
In LWC's semifinal match, Martin Methodist(19-4-0) notched the contest's first goal when Lisa Mann netted her first goal of the tournament and her seventh of the season at the 9:25 mark to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
The goal ended the Blue Raiders' shutout streak of more than 1,111 minutes. Ironically, Martin Methodist was the last team to score on the Blue Raiders, in an Oct. 1 regular-season match.
In tonight's match, Martin Methodist's Victoria Charnley played the ball from near midfield to the top of the box to Mann. Mann played the ball off her chest into the penalty area and passed a charging Lindsey Wilson goalkeeper
Lisbeth Skjodt.
Mann's shot to the far post came from about 10 yards out to give the Redhawks the 1-0 lead.
Despite out-shooting the Redhawks 10-5 and 3-1 in shots on-goal in the first half, LWC was unable to get the equalizer in the first half.
In the early stages of the second half, the Blue Raiders continued to attack, and it paid off.
Less than nine minutes into the second half, the Lindsey Wilson defense cleared a ball into the midfield, where freshman
Omolyn Davis punched it ahead to senior
Hishamar Falconer.
Falconer dribbled the ball from 50 yards out with a defender on her back into the penalty area.
Martin Methodist goalkeeper Sarah Prendergast came off her line to put pressure on Falconer. But Falconer touched the ball to her right, past Prendergast and into an open net for the game-tying goal.
The goal was Falconer's 16th of the season.
Less than three minutes later, Davis scored her eighth goal of the season to give the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead.
Senior
Marie Gallagher made a run down the right side and beat the Martin Methodist defender to the end line. Gallagher served the ball across the box past Prendergast -- who was on the near post -- onto Davis' head and into the back of the net.
But Lindsey Wilson wasn't finished.
The Blue Raiders recorded six shots over the next nine minutes in an attempt to score an insurance goal.
Martin Methodist withstood the Blue Raider attack to maintain a one-goal deficit, and the Redhawks had several scoring chances in the final 15 minutes.
The closest came when Redhawk junior Clare Sykes -- the 2005 NAIA National Player of the Year -- hit the crossbar from 25 yards in the 78th minute. But that turned out to be Martin Methodist's last shot of the match.
The Blue Raiders finished out the game to earn a third trip to the championship game in the last four years. LWC won the national title in 2004.
Earlier this season, Azusa defeated Lindsey Wilson -- the Blue Raiders' last loss -- 2-1 on Sept. 23 at the Lady Flames Classic at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.
