The Emporia State women’s soccer team faced off against the Fort Hays State Tigers in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. The Tigers traveled to Emporia on Nov. 17 as ESU received hosting honors for claiming the number two seed in the tournament.
The Hornets claimed the first goal of the game as Mackenzie Dimarco tallied a goal in the 11th minute of play with a breakaway assist by Hannah Woolery. The rest of the first half was rather quiet with neither team scoring, therefore resulting in a 1-0 Hornet lead going into the half.
Late in the second half, Dimarco striked again with an assist by Kyleigh Roe, bumping up the score to a 2-0 lead moving into the last ten minutes of play.
The Tigers finally tallied a goal in the 88th minute, but the Hornets’ defense was able to stop the Tigers from scoring in the last two minutes. ESU finished the game with a 2-1 victory.
The two teams met twice this year in regular season play where the first game on Sept. 17 ended in a 1-1 draw and the Tigers took the second matchup with a score of 3-1 on Sept. 24.
A total of four teams are representing the MIAA in the central region of the tournament, with number-one-seeded Washburn claiming a 1-0 win over Ouachita Baptist in a double overtime and number five seeded Central Missouri claiming an upset win over number four seed Minnesota State.
The Hornets will now face off against the number-six-seeded Bemidji State after they claimed a 1-0 win over number-three-seeded St. Cloud St.
This will mark the third time in a row that the Hornets will face off against Bemidji State in the DII tournament. On Nov. 21 of 2021, the Hornets fell to Bemidji 0-1. Following that, they then faced off again in the 2022 NCAA Central Region Championship during the 2022 season where the game went into three overtimes but neither team was able to score, leaving the game up to penalty kicks. The Hornets would end up falling to Bemidji State in penalty kicks 1-3.
The Hornets will face off against the Beavers at 1 p.m. on Nov. 19. The first 150 Emporia State students will be admitted free into the game according to Emporia State Athletics.
The winner of the Nov. 19 game will advance to the Central Regional Final to face off against either Central Missouri or Washburn for the third round on either Nov. 30 or Dec. 1.
