Texas-Bound: No. 14 Harford Women’s Soccer Advances to National Tournament with 4-0 District Win Over Cape Fear

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The No. 14 Harford women’s soccer team will return to the NJCAA Division-I National Tournament for the first time since 2006 after defeating Cape Fear, 4-0 in the District H Championship on Saturday at Harford Stadium. The Fighting Owls (17-2-1) and Sea Devils (15-5) took a scoreless tie into halftime, but Harford scored three times within a 4:27 span as they rolled to the 4-0 win.

Freshman Erin Lynn (Fallston, Md./Fallston) led the way for the Owls with a goal and an assist on the day, while sophomore Becca Bazemore (Churchville, Md./C. Milton Wright), redshirt freshman Lyndsie Ludwig (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright/Wilmington) and freshman Alexa Carlevaro (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) each added one goal.

Carlevaro notched the first goal of the game as she got her head on a deflected ball after freshman Beth Lambros’s (Forest Hill, Md./North Harford) corner kick at the 61:52 mark.

Ludwig made it a two-goal lead less than three minutes later as she tapped Lynn’s right-side cross past Sea Devil keeper Margaret Wyatt from a few yards out during the 65th minute. Lynn would tally her own goal just 1:43 later as she controlled a free kick by sophomore Kaylee Smith (to give Harford a commanding, 3-0, advantage.

As the final seconds were ticking off the clock, Bazemore added the fourth goal of the day for the Owls with a routine free kick from about 30 yards out that bended into the upper right corner, just out of the reach of the Cape Fear keeper.

Harford outshot the Sea Devils, 14-8, while both teams each had five corner kicks. Wyatt made five saves for Cape Fear in 90:00, while freshmen Cierra Stinson (Parkville, Md./Mercy) and Alexandra Davis (Street, Md./North Harford) both saw time in goal with Stinson making three saves in 85:24 and Davis playing the final 4:36.

Cape Fear picked up the only cards of the day as Laurel Ramsey and Blair Elmore drew cautions during the 54th and 60th minutes, respectively. Kimberley Lawrence was carded during the 67th minute, which set up the free kick by Smith which led to the third goal of the game.

With the district win, the Fighting Owls advance to the eight-team D-I National Tournament at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas from November 19-22. The Owls have earned the No. 8 seed and will play No. 1 Lewis and Clark on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 4:00 p.m. (CST) with the winner advancing to the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 20.

Notes: Harford’s 14 shots is the lowest total for the Owls in 14 games, dating back to the Sept. 14 loss at Burlington where they totaled 11 shots…The shot total is also the third-lowest of the season behind the Burlington (11) and CCBC-Essex (12) games…Harford was ranked No. 14 in the final NJCAA D-I National Poll on Nov. 4, the first time it has broken the top 15 this season…Freshman Beth Lambros has scored one point in all but two games this season and has 14 games with two or more points…Lewis and Clark (22-1) has lost just one game this season, a 3-0 decision to Navarro on Sept. 7 and was ranked No. 2 in the final poll behind undefeated No. 1 Polk State.