LOUISVILLE, KY. – The fourth-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis women's soccer team saw its GLVC Championship run end on Sunday with a 2-0 loss to No. 2 seed Truman State in the league's tournament title game.
The Bulldogs (14-2-5) posted the game-winner in the 36
th minute and added an insurance goal in the 58
th minute en route to gaining the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning their first GLVC title and their 10
th in program history.
UMSL falls to 12-4-4 overall and will now await word from the NCAA on Monday evening if they have done enough this season to earn a spot in the tournament field when the bracket is unveiled live on NCAA.com at 5:30 p.m. UMSL has been ranked No. 5 in the last two Midwest Regional Rankings. The top six teams in each of the country's eight regions will make up the NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament. The conference tournament champions from the GLVC, the GLIAC and the GMAC receive automatic berths, with three at-large berths then made available for the final spots in the Midwest region. UMSL is in search of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1983, and just the third-ever trip in program history.
The Tritons fall to 0-5 in GLVC Tournament championship games. UMSL was making its first appearance in the title game since 2007 and was in its first GLVC Tournament since 2011. The Tritons were picked ninth in the preseason GLVC Coaches Poll.
UMSL lost despite outshooting the Bulldogs, 14-4, including 4-2 in shots on goal. The Tritons also held a 16-6 shots advantage in a 1-0 regular season loss to Truman State on September 13 in St. Louis.
UMSL controlled the ball offensively early in the contest, placing three of their first shots on target. UMS's best scoring threat came in the 20
th minute on junior
Kayla Delgado's header off a corner kick, but the shot was stopped by GLVC Defensive Player of the Year Jessica Hanson. Delgado placed two of her three shot attempts on goal, while seniors
Sidney Allen and
Kelly McGovern also had a shot on goal. Nine different players attempted a shot for the Tritons.
Truman State's first goal was scored by Megan Casserly on a shot outside of the six-yard box off Megan Whitehead's low corner kick from the right side of the field.
The Bulldogs then made it 2-0 on Allison Lockett's header into the lower right corner of the goal.
