Date Posted: 11/10/2007

KENNESAW, Ga. – For the second time in 11 days, Kennesaw State faced Mercer with a women’s soccer title on the lines and once again, the Owls came out on top by defeating the Bears, 2-1, on Saturday at the Kennesaw State Soccer Complex to win the Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Soccer Championship and earn their first trip to the Women’s Soccer Championship.

The Owls, who clinched the regular-season title with a 3-1 win at Mercer on Halloween, scored first with a goal from Tournament MVP Caitlin Dingle. Just after the eight-minute mark Dingle capitalized on a fine pass from Sara Clapham to beat Mercer goalkeeper Jean Worts in the lower corner. Player of the Year Annie Phillips started the play with a pass to Clapham down the right sideline. The lead almost doubled 10 minutes later when Dingle blasted a shot off the post but after 45 minutes, the lead remained just one despite the Bears not recording a shot on goal.

“Sara played it up the middle to me and, I was making a run,” Dingle said “I took a touch past the defender, found my spot and tried to keep it on frame. We always settle down a little bit once we get a goal or two up.”

After Jean Worts kept the difference at one following a save on a Phillips’ breakaway attempt 62 minutes into the match, the Owls finally extended their lead to two, seven minutes later went Beth Meadors connected with a header following a free-kick by Sarah Marek and another header by Maylee Attin-Johnson.

Mercer tried valiantly to stay in the match and scored in the 85th minute to cut the deficit to one. Heather Manting, she of the game-winning penalty kick in Mercer’s semifinal match against Belmont, connected off a rebound following a deflection from a corner kick less than a minute after Owls’ midfielder Sarah Marek made a save on a shot headed towards the open net by Kacie Hudson.

“I was just ready for the game to be over…the clock was ticking very slowly,” Kennesaw State head coach Rob King said. “We kept giving up throw-ins close to our goal and the loft the ball into the box and they’ve got some big players that try to get their head on it. One of those worked for them and we were just on our heels at the end of the game.” The Bears continued their frantic push to the finish and came close to tying the match when Courtney Maxey fired a shot just outside the right post in the final minute. The Owls’ finally cleared play out to midfield as time expired.

“I was on my toes the whole time,” Dingle said. “I couldn’t stop screaming and yelling. We fought hard all the way up to the last second and pulled out a win.”

Dingle earned MVP honors after scoring a goal in each of the Owls’ Championship matches. Four of her teammates, Phillips, Attin-Johnson, Meadors and Clapham joined her on the All-Tournament Team. Mercer’s Worts, Hudson and Meghan Castaldo represented the Bears on the squad.

With the win, the Owls became the seventh host to win the title in the 14 years of the Championship; the first since Campbell in 2004. In an anomaly, the higher seed won all five Championship matches, a feat that had not occurred in the 11 years since the Championship expanded to six teams.

Kennesaw State will learn its fate for the 26th annual Division I Women's Soccer Championship on Monday at 8:00pm ET when the tournament field will be announced on ESPNews. First-round matches will begin on Friday, November 16th with second-round matches being contested two days later.

“Every single person on this team wanted it just as bad as the next person,” Dingle said. “We wanted to win it for our team…for our coaches…for our seniors. We can’t explain how excited we are to be here right now and to be able to say our season isn’t over.”

The Atlantic Sun Conference is a 12-member league committed to Building Winners for Life, with a focus on academic and athletic integrity and a balance between the two for the student-athlete, and maintaining a high level of sportsmanship. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun encompasses six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun consists of some of the most dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Gardner-Webb University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

Related Links:
 • Championship Coverage