Women's Soccer | 10/27/2018 10:54:00 PM
ELLISVILLE – After putting plenty of emotion into winning last week's MACJC championship, the 13
th-ranked Jones College Lady Bobcats had to regroup and play for a Region 23 Tournament championship.
And they responded beautifully.
The Lady Bobcats broke open a 2-0 game in the second half and rolled to an 8-1 victory over LSU-Eunice here Saturday night at Bobcat Soccer Field.
"The girls worked hard all week and they definitely knew this was going to be their last game at home," said Jones head coach
Dolores Deasley. "They wanted to go out with a real bang and they did."
The win sends Jones, 14-2, to the state of Texas on Nov. 3 where they will play the Region 14 champion for the NJCAA South District championship. The Region 14 title will be decided Sunday when No. 2 Tyler hosts No. 4 Navarro.
Esmeralda Figueroa (Northeast Jones) paced the Lady Bobcats with a "hat trick."
Figueroa got her first goal at 14:46 with
Lucy Critchell (London, England) on the assist.
Aimee Durn's (London, England) goal at 30:50 on a
Mikayla Banks' (Vicksburg) pass to make it 2-0.
Banks scored at 49:01 on a
Mary Ann O'Kennedy (Sligo, Ireland) assist to give the Lady Bobcats a 3-0 lead.
The Bengals got on the board seconds later at 50:19 on a Chloe Dean goal.
The game was scoreless for the next 25 minutes, but Jones poured it on over the final 15 minutes.
Banks scored at 75:34 to make it 4-1. Figueroa put the ball into the net at 79:17 on an assist by O'Kennedy. Figueroa scored on a header with
Zakiah Almatrood (Biloxi) making the pass at 81:37.
Madison LaFontaine (Pass Christian) scored at 85:29 when O'Kennedy got her third assist of the night.
Rachel Barnaby's (Derry, Ireland) goal on a Durn assist at 88:44 ended the scoring.
Alexis Wilson (Long Beach) went the distance in goal for the Lady Bobcats.
Deasley was pleased with the way the Lady Bobcats responded after LSU-Eunice scored.
"Once they got that goal, it was 3-1 and it was tough at times," she said. "But once we got that fourth goal it was really important for us. Once we got that I think it took the wee bit of wind they had in their sails out and from there on, the girls really relaxed.
"They really went at it and it looked like they were having a blast. Overall, I'm extremely proud. We survive another game and roll on into next week."
The Lady Bobcats will have Sunday off, but will be cheering on the Bobcat men on Sunday afternoon.
The Bobcat men face LSU-Eunice at 3 p.m. for the Region 23 championship. The winner will host the Region 14 champion next week, while the loser will travel to Texas.
Sunday night, Jones find out where they will be headed next week.
Deasley is looking forward to the challenge of playing a Top 5 team next week. This will be the fifth time for the Lady Bobcats to appear in an NJCAA playoff game. They are looking for their first NJCAA playoff win.
"Hopefully, next week we can go and make a wee bit of history," Deasley said.
The NJCAA South District women's winner will go to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament Nov. 12-17 in Foley, Alabama.
LSU-Eunice ends the season at 7-2-1.
2018 REGION 23 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
BOBCAT SOCCER FIELD
WOMEN
Saturday, Oct. 27
Championship, Jones College 8, LSU-Eunice 1
MEN
Saturday, Oct. 27
LSU-Eunice 3, Southwest 2
Sunday, Oct. 28
3 p.m., Championship, Jones vs. LSU-Eunice
