Women's Soccer Waits for Potential At-Large Bid
Two weather delays and a steady rain provided tough conditions for the Triton's semifinal match in the Region 11 Tournament with Iowa Lakes on Wednesday (10/30) night. Originally scheduled for 3:00 PM, the #8 ranked Tritons and #16 ranked Lakers finally kicked off at 7:00 PM. Scoreless for nearly 75 minutes, a lone goal by Iowa Lake's Balaghni Ines was the difference as the top-seeded Tritons fell 1-0 to the #4 seed Lakers.
Triton Head Coach, Jordan Sibenaller, was proud of his team and how they handled their long day. "I felt we were the better team for the majority of the game and we just failed to find the back of the net. I'm very proud of our team despite the loss and we cannot thank this sophomore class enough for taking this program to the next level. I am blown away at the amount of grit our team showed this year. It has been a joy to watch this group develop into one of the best teams in the country. We have a great group returning next year."
The Tritons had an outstanding regular season with wins in 9 of their last 12 games and finished with a 9-5-3 record. Three of the losses were consecutive matches with the #1, #2, and #3 teams in the country. They secured their first regular season conference championship since 2015 with an 8-0-1 conference record.
Eden Palkovic had an outstanding two years for the Tritons with 45 goals and 36 assists. After being the runner-up NJCAA Player of the Year last season, she's a favorite for the honor again this year. Eden is committed to DI Colorado College to continue her academic and player career. Perla Rios, tabbed the "best player on the field tonight" by Coach Sibenaller after the semifinal match, was a key player all year for Tritons and had a great freshman season.
Leaning on their regular season championship and being ranked throughout the entire season, the Tritons are now hoping for one of the four at-large bids that will be announced on November 10th to the NJCAA Championship Tournament. Tournament play begins on November 17th at Joe Hunt Park & Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville, AL.