Virginia Beach, VA - ACPHS Women's Soccer take home the USCAA Division II National Championship against conference rival Southern Maine Community College. The Panthers came into this tournament as the 6th seed, and knew it would be a battle to even have a shot at the championship game. They had to go through two conference rivals in #2 seeded Paul Smith's and #4 seeded Southern Maine Community College to get the title. 

On Friday, November 11th, the Panthers took on undefeated Paul Smith's who got the second seed in the tournament. During the first half, it seemed as if the Panthers could not find their footing as they fell behind 2-0 early. They could not find the back of the net in the first half, and were able to hold Paul Smith's to just those two goals. Coming out of the half, the Panthers came out with vengence, and Julia Roemer (Latham, NY) scored 14 minutes into the second half to put the Panthers down by 1. Then, 3 minutes later Ka'ena Kehano (Wailuku, HI) scored her first collegiate goal to tie the game at two. The Panthers started to have all momentum on their side as they scored once again 45 seconds later on a beautiful pass by Shannon Donnelly (Bethlehem, NY) to Julia Roemer for her second goal of the game. Finally, Roemer found the back of the net one more time 3 minutes later to put the Panthers up by two and it was defense focused for the rest of the game. Mykala Brodzinski (Toms River, NJ) had 4 saves in net to help secure the first win of the tournament and upset over Paul Smith's. 

On Saturday, November 13th, the Panthers took on #3 seeded Penn State Mont Alto to try and secure their shot at the championship game on Monday afternoon. Mont Alto came out with a plan of attack, scoring within the first 2 minutes of the game. The Panthers did not want to let that slide and wanted to start showing that the National title was their end goal. 5 minutes after Mont Alto scored, Shannon Donnelly sent a pass to Julia Roemer, who found the net for her first goal of the game to tie it at one. However, Mont Alto found themselves slipping another goal in before the halfway mark of the half. Panthers needed to find a response and they did just that, with Roemer putting in her second goal of the game. The game found itself tied at 2 going into the half. 

The second half saw more of the same from the first half, and that was goals. Mont Alto came out in the second half scoing quickly into the half once again. They found the net within the first 6 minutes, however, 2 minutes later Donnelly found Roemer again for their second connection of the game. After that it was all Panthers for the rest of the game. The defense found a nice groove and was able to hold Mont Alto to zero goals for the rest of the game. Julia Roemer continued her dominance in this game finding the net two more times to bring her goal total to 5 for the game. The Panthers beat Mont Alto to advance to the championship game.

Monday, November 14th, the Panthers took on confernece rival, and #4 seeded Southern Maine Community College for the championship. The game was very defensive focused from kickoff. There was not a goal through a good majority of the first half. Both teams were showing how bad they wanted to be National Champions. Southern Maine was trying hard to strike first as they out shot the Panthers 9-6 in the first half. Southern Maine ultimately found the back of the net with less than 3 minutes in the first half to send the Panthers behind 1. 

Coming out of the second half, you could tell the Panthers were ready for the game tying goal. Throughout the second half, they were holding good possession and trying to find their strikers Kehano and Roemer up front for the equalizer. After 15 minutes, Shannon Donnelly and Julia Roemer connected once again this tournament to tie the game at 1. This goal marked the 9th goal Roemer scored in the tournament and Donnelly's 4th assist. After the Panthers scored Southern Maine looks a little rattled, and the Panthers started taking advantage testing Southern Maine's goalie. They oushot the Seawolves 7-4 to end regulation and the game found itself going to overtime. Brodzinski also had a game in net piling up 8 saves to keep the Seawolves at 1 goal.

Not too much happened in overtime, where the Panthers gathered 3 shots. Those 3 shots did not find their way into the back of the net and sent the game in a penalty kick shootout for the Championship. Donnelly took over in net, and it was a back and forth battle of goals scored until Donnelly saved Seawolves penalties 5 and 8 to record two saves in net. Donnelly's second save came after Emma Russell (Brushton, NY) scored the game winning penalty kick. This secured the National Championship for the Panthers which is a first in program history! The Panthers ended up out dueling the Seawolves 7-6 in penalties. The other Panthers to score in the penalty shootout were Julia Roemer, Ka'ena Kehano, Izzy Mancini (Galway, NY), Lindsay Beach (Ogdensburg, NY), Payge Demaio (Roxbury, NY), and Mayle Lupia-Eannace (Barneveld, NY). 

The Panthers earned this victory and completed the underdog route to win the National Championship. They will be back next August to start their journey once again to defend their title. 

How to follow the Panthers: For the latest information on ACPHS athletics, visit acphspanthers.com or check out the ACPHS athletics social media platforms on Instagram @ACPHSPanthers or Twitter @ACPHSAthletics.