by staff–17 Nov ’16
BREVARD COUNTY, FL – Last season, the Laramie County Community College women’s soccer team buried a soccer ball in the sand on the beach, vowing to return to Eastern Florida State College for the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.
Not only did they return, but they punched their ticket to the national championship semifinals, with a 3-2 overtime win against host Eastern Florida State College Wednesday night.
“A year ago we put a ball in the beach near the Doubletree (Suites by Hilton Hotel Melbourne Beach Oceanfront) and we never thought we would find it but we actually found it, dug a 4×4 hole and found it right on the edge,” Laramie County Community College women’s soccer coach Jim Gardner said. “We talked about this being a little bit of destiny with the ball so maybe it is all adding up, I don’t know. Whatever it is it has been great so far.”
What’s there not to like? The Golden Eagles advanced to the semifinals with wins in penalty kicks, against Schoolcraft, and in the final seconds of the first overtime against the Titans.
Wednesday night it was Shauni Griffiths who sent LCCC to the semifinals, hitting a shot past Eastern Florida State College goalkeeper Taylor Major, and into the back of the net with 20 seconds remaining in the first overtime, to send the Golden Eagles to the semifinals.
“She hits a hard ball, you gotta give her credit. I thought it was going to be a great save but it ends up going in,” Gardner said.
It was Griffiths second goal of the day. Jemma House scored the other goal in the sixth minute of the game to open the scoring.
Laramie County Community College will face Tyler Junior College at 6 p.m. mountain time, in the second semifinal tomorrow (Friday) night.
