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Nov. 22, 2008 - One more valiant effort at home wasn’t quite enough for the Truman women’s soccer team, as Seattle Pacific muscled their way to a 1-0 win and a spot in the national semifinals.The Falcons ended the Bulldogs’ season on the strength of a goal by Janae Godoy in the 54th minute, after she took a volleyed ball from teammate Jocelyn Charette and punched it in for the decisive score.

In a physical match, the West Region champs outshot Truman by a margin of 19 to 8, chalking up six shots on goal to two for the Bulldogs. Both teams played suffocating defense, and Truman’s top forwards of Jessica Wiegert and Riley Mahn had trouble turning on Seattle Pacific’s back line, compiling only four combined shots on the day.

In the first half, the two squads battled for possession in front of a raucous crowd of 480 fans, but neither team was able to sustain a passing attack down the field. At halftime, the score was knotted at zeroes, as the weather grew colder on a late November afternoon in Kirksville. Less than five minutes into the second, Wiegert received a yellow card as she battled for the ball up front and Godoy scored her goal shortly after, intensifying the action.

Head coach Mike Cannon rotated his two forwards with Isabel Gaeta and Katelyn Talcott throughout the afternoon in an attempt to find a scoring combination, and the Bulldogs had a few more chances, but no good looks on the net. As the game drew to a close, Truman lost for the first time in Kirksville all season and their historic run in the tournament came to a close.

Thanks to their win on the road, SPU advances to the national semifinals in Tampa and improved to 20-1-2 overall, while the Bulldogs ended the season with a record of 18-4-2. The last time Truman reached the quarterfinals was in 2001, with a team that won the MIAA and finished with three losses overall.

Despite the loss, the Bulldogs made their mark on the national stage and stamped themselves as a team to beat in 2009. Next season, they’ll return all but four starters and look to advance even farther in tournament play and win the school’s first ever national championship in soccer. 

Courtesy Truman State University