NEW ROCHELLE, NY — With what was left of his voice after 90 draining minutes Monroe College women’s soccer head coach Jonathan Garbar was blunt.
“Again, we’re just proving ourselves right,” Garbar said of his defending NJCAA Women’s Division I champions who came into this week’s tournament at Eastern Florida’s Titan Soccer Complex as the seventh seed.
“You can put us where ever you want. As long as there is a field and there is a ball we’re going to give you a game.
“I feel bad for everybody who’s had to deal with us already.”
Everybody on Wednesday was No. 2 seed Tyler Junior College which dropped a 2-1 decision to Monroe, moving the New Yorkers to Friday’s semifinals and sending Tyler’s Texans home.
Monroe’s opponent is to be determined.
Monroe improved to 15-2 while Tyler ended its season at 17-4-1.
Much like Tuesday’s first-round game in which Monroe built a 5-0 halftime lead en route to a 5-2 victory over Moraine Valley Community College, the Mustangs bossed Tyler and led 2-0 at the break.
The goals went to Elysa Virella off a corner kick in the first 10 minutes and Aline Delima on a penalty kick with 53 seconds to play in the half.
The Mustangs continued their dominance into the second half, with the able assistance of a stout defense and two big saves from goalkeeper Jordan Wainwright.
That was until Tyler broke through with a Sydney Tiiman goal with 10 minutes and 5 seconds to go.
From there Monroe held on and moved on.
“I feel like I prepared hard enough to be prepared for the moment,” Wainwright said. “So I’m very confident.”
As for her team: “Obviously we’re after it. If you want to look down on us we’re just going to make you regret it.”
Tyler head coach Corey Rose took the defeat in stride.
“You might have seen the championship game tonight,” Rose said. “It’s just part of it. We knew we’d have to play some good competition. You give them a PK (penalty kick) and a corner kick, two set pieces, and we score in the run of play, it’s unfortunate.
“They’re a good team. Once you give them a two-goal lead, it’s tough to come back. We’ll be back. We’ve got a young team.”