MELBOURNE, FL — The Monroe Mustangs women’s soccer team has advanced to the finals of the NJCAA Women’s Division I National Championships in a most thrilling fashion. After a scoreless ninety minutes and two scoreless ten-minute overtime periods aginst tournment host and #3-seed Eastern Florida, Mustangs freshman keeper Tiffany Martinez blocked two shots in the penalty kicks session giving Monroe a 4-2 advantage and sending the Mustangs into the final round.
The second-seeded Mustangs will play Iowa Western, the top-seed at 7:00pm pn Saturday evening. Ironically it was the 13-1-2 Reivers who defeated the 17-1-1 Mustangs in their only loss of the season, way back on September 6. Iowa Western also ousted Monroe in the second round of last year’s nationals and thier men’s team will face Monroe on Saturday in a national semifinal (2:00pm, NY time. Watch it here.)
“I couldn’t be prouder, they were unbelievable,” said Monroe head coach Jonathan Garbar about his team. “To play the longest you can play possibly and do it with basically 11 players against in my opinion the best team we have seen all season long, they were fantastic. It was their home crowd, their stadium so we knew it would be a battle.”
As for the final after playing a grinding game on Friday, he said, “We’ve got the best trainer in the country, we brought our ice bath with us, our girls know how to prepare. We’re the fittest team I’ve ever seen. What ever comes Saturday were going to be ready, 100 percent. No excuses. We’ll be ready.”
Monroe’s best chance during the tense, scorelss match came in the 32nd minute on a line-drive kick from Ana Carol Rodrigues that hit the cross bar and bounced away.
Monroe’s scorers in PK’s were Melanie Formosa, Gabriela Maidana, Christina Jean-Charles, and Samantha Mendez. Martinez saved two of the PK’s, but on the Titans’ first kick, she was faulted for moving too soon and was forced to save it again, which she did.
“We’re going to prove we’re the best team in the country,” said Martinez after the game. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
This is Monroe’s second trip to the finals, but their first since becoming a Division I team three years ago. in 2011 they were defeated in the final game by Montgomery College.