posted November 17, 2007
The final eight teams are in place for the third round of the 2007 NAIA Women’s Soccer National Championship. The Lee University Lady Flames will be among those eight when play begins on Saturday at noon.
Coach Matt Yelton will send his No. 1 seeded Lee team against No. 9 seeded St. Xavier (Ill.) in the quarter-final round. In other action, Martin Methodist (No. 5 seed) will be pitted against No. 4 seeded Concordia (Ore.); No. 3 Azusa Pacific will challenge No. 11 Northwood (Fla.) at 5 p.m. and No. 7 Carroll (Mont.) will wrap up the quarter-final round by testing No. 2 Lindsey-Wilson.
"The quality of the tournament has been very good so far,” said Yelton. “Most of the usual contenders are still in the mix. I am pleased our team has reached the Elite Eight for the fourth straight year. We know that every team left is very good and we will have to play our best soccer if we want to still be playing on Monday."
Yelton added, "The community of Daytona and Embry Riddle have proven to be outstanding hosts. I can't say enough good things about the quality of the facility and the organization that these two groups have put into this event."
The highly successful coach believes that his Lady Flames have a shot at bringing Lee’s first NAIA national championship back to Cleveland. He pointed out that out of the seven teams remaining, his Lady Flames have played four of them.
In taking one final glance at St. Xavier before Saturday’s match, Yelton said, "The are one of those teams we saw earlier in the year. We escaped with our lives on a penalty kick. I have to believe that this is going to be an all out battle. We can expect nothing less than a 90-minute battle against St. Xavier.”
Yelton also pointed out that St. Xavier played really well on Friday and eliminated a very good SCAD team. They have eight seniors and are playing with a lot of confidence.
The Lee coach is concerned about his All-American Janaina Novaes. “She caught an elbow in the last game and had a tooth knocked loose. We had her in the dentist office Thursday. She should be back full strength after having to battle through constant pain in our last match."
The tournament semi-finals are scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. with the winner of the Lee/St. Xavier game being matched against the Martin Methodist/Concordia game. The tournament championship is slated for 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
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