Foley, Ala. – The No. 8 Central Methodist women's soccer team's historic 2020 season came to a close with a 4-0 loss to No. 1 seeded William Carey (Miss.) in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National tournament Thursday afternoon in Foley, Ala.
The Eagles finish the season with a 20-4-1 overall record and their first-ever trip to the national quarterfinals. The 20 wins are the second-most in the last 15 years in program history along with back-to-back regular season and conference tournament titles. William Carey improves to 18-0-1 overall and advances to the semifinals, where they will face Marian (Ind.) Saturday, May 1 for a spot in the national championship.
In a very balanced first half, the Eagles and Crusaders remained scoreless despite both teams having scoring opportunities. CMU finished the opening 45 minutes with nine shots and Sheila Sanchez collected six saves. William Carey finished the first half with 10 shots.
The second half turned in favor of the Crusaders, who scored the first goal of the match in the 57th minute. William Carey added two more in the next nine minutes, opening a 3-0 lead by the 67thminute. The Crusaders added their fourth and final goal in the 76th minute, completing the 4-0 victory.
CMU finished the game with 17 shots while Andrea Villar led the team with seven shots and three coming on goal. Sara Cobollo and Anika Kallash finished the match with two shots each.
Anika Kallash finishes her time in an Eagle uniform as the program's all-time leading scorer with 85 goals. This year, the Troy, Mo native scored 29 goals and dished out a career-high 15 assists. Fellow senior Elly Boothe concludes her career with 26 goals paired with 27 assists.
Olivia Gonzales wraps her time as an Eagle with one goal while Elli McCabe also concludes her career with two goals. Nely Martinez and Sara Cobollo both finish their careers with Central, as Martinez tallied 21 goals and 19 assists while Cobollo finishes with five goals and 13 assists.
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