Jordan Griffitt
Student Sports Media
Butler lost in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Women’s soccer tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 16, falling to Monroe College (New York) in Melbourne, Fla. Butler came into the game riding high on a 21 game win streak after starting 0-2 on the season. With a win against Monroe College, the Grizzlies would move on to the national semi-finals. The name to remember for this game was Eleni Markou for Monroe. She scored three goals en route to a win and end the Grizzlies, season. The three goals that she scored would be the lone goals for Monroe but it was enough to bypass Butler by a score of 3-1.
Butler went down 2-0 early in the game and then sophomore Colleen Howland scored the lone goal in the game for Butler. The shots were about even, as Butler had 17 and Monroe had 18.
This year, though, has been nothing but a successful season. Yes, they did not get where they wanted to be, but they battled adversity with going down 0-2 early in the season and they ended up being one of the best teams in the nation.
Coach Hunter commented on the team’s season.
“We are disappointed that we didn’t make it to the final four but when you look back at the whole season you have to look at the body of work”, he said.
Butler had performed well against Cape Fear (North Carolina) Monday, Nov. 14. Butler has had great defense all season and that continued against Cape Fear. Butler was ranked No. 2 in the tournament with a very high seed. Florida is about 21 hours away from El Dorado, so it was a mighty road trip that they had. This is also the second time that they have played in Florida this season as they lost last time against Eastern Florida State.
Butler would end up pitching another shutout and advance to the next round with a 3-0 victory.
The goals were evenly distributed through the team as three different women scored for the Grizzlies. Sophomores Colleen Howland, Lexi Clark and Taylor Spencer all had a goal in the contest. Spencer’s goal was from 30 feet out and was assisted by Lexi Clark. Butler had 28 goals shot, opposed to eight for Cape Fear. It was a very aggressive match as Butler had nine fouls on the night. They had five more than Cape Fear as the Sea Devils as they had only four on the night.
