What a MadDog game between #5 Seahawks at #15 Fire

First update I saw this morning came from a tweet:

x.com / Tweet for Season Home Opener

Then it was game time with SEU playing very strong defense in the game producing a shutout for SEU.

Postgame post on Instagram showed:

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | 9/16/2023 5:47:00 PM | Donnie SmithDavidson Scores Twice as Women’s Soccer Blanks No. 5 KeiserLAKELAND, Fla.—Great defense led to offense as the 15th-ranked Southeastern women's soccer team improved to 2-0 in Sun Conference play with a 2-0 win over No. 5 Keiser on Saturday. Sophomore Madelyn Davidson scored both goals, blasting a ball over the head of the keeper from distance in the 32nd minute, then headed in a volley off a corner kick in the 49th minute to give the Fire their first win over the Seahawks since 2020. Just as impressive was the defensive effort which held the Seahawks (3-2-1, 1-1 SUN) off the scoresheet having racked up 16 goals in their first five games. "The big effort and what we've talked about the past two days was shifting together," said coach Caleb Roberts. "Whatever we're doing, just commit to it and it was a big effort to defend against one of the best teams in the country and they were able to do a big job together." Micaela Owen made two of her six saves on the day in the first 11 minutes of the contest. The Fire got the offense going off of a counterattack and nearly got on the board in the 25th minute when a shot by Ariadna Lozano hit the crossbar. Just six minutes later, Davidson snuck a long shot just under the crossbar off a pass from Viktoria Lederer to put the Fire up 1-0. "It was a good ball in by Vicki and Coach tells us when we are at the top of the 18 to take our shots so that's all I could think about," said Davidson. The Fire (2-2) forced an early corner kick which Naira Lopez sent to the far post which was perfectly headed by Lozano back to the near post and headed into the net by Davidson less than three minutes into the second half. It was then time for the defense to shine again, keeping all four shots on goal out of the back of the net. Owen made three more saves in the second half and the Fire also recorded a team save on a blocked shot by Kaylee Couey. "Everyone was on the communication and tracking well and knew where they needed to be and held it down," said Owen of the team defense. "I've put my trust in the defense in front of me, I know they're going to do their job and I'm just here to help them." Keiser finished with a 12-10 edge in shots and a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal. "This is huge and I think it'll boost our confidence as a team and bring us all together and prepare us for the rest of the season," said Davidson. The Fire will return to action on Wednesday at home against St. Thomas at 7 p.m.

This morning looking for any other updates before clicking post, I found the following:

From Suncast:

Play By Play:

Notes from the Keiser Website:

Game InformationScore: No. 5 Keiser 0, No. 15 Southeastern 2Records: No. 5 Keiser (3-2-1, 1-1-0 SUN), No. 15 Southeastern (2-2-0, 2-0-0 SUN)Location: SEU Soccer Field, Lakeland, Fla.No. 5 Keiser saw their 21-game conference regular season winning streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon in Lakeland, Fla. No. 15 Southeastern frustrated the Seahawks throughout the contest and handed KU its second loss of the year.How it HappenedEach team had an opportunity saved in the first seven minutes of the game forecasting the even matchup.The Seahawks managed two corners in the 11th minute but were unable to create a clean opportunity.In the 32nd minute, Southeastern found their chance out of nowhere with a deflected shot from Madelyn Davidson going over Zara Board and into the back of the net.Keiser would take two more shots before the half, but a save from Micaela Owen kept the Fire in front going into the break.SEU attacked early in the second half, earning a corner in the 48th minute.The ensuing ball would find the head of Ariadna Lozano, who headed it to Davidson, who scored her second goal of the afternoon.Both sides would continue to press forward, but neither keeper would be bested for the remainder of the game.

School first and sports second right? When priorities are right it is exciting to see the teams win academic awards.

At Cedarcrest High School, the girls soccer team has won on multiple occasions the:

Her team a 3-peat Winner of the 2A WIAA Girls Soccer State Academic Award (’18, ’19, ‘20/’21)!

This morning as I checked the SEU Fire website, I noticed they were awarding the NAIA Scholar Team award to teams that maintained a collective 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and noticed that the Fire Women’s Soccer made the list with a collective grade of 3.41 GPA. Way to go team and congratulations!

Our kids need to remember they are academic athletes and by putting their schooling in such a high priority it will materialize into wins on and off the field. Excited to see the girls continue to succeed on and off the field.

Close game to wrap up a great season.

As I write this the Southeastern University Women’s Soccer season for 2022 has come to an end. The season ends with a record of 14-4-2, finishing the SunConference as runner-ups to the #1 ranked in the nation Keiser, and then after getting to host NAIA‘s first and second rounds of the national playoffs on home field, lost 1-0 to Westmont College. What an incredible season for Madelyn in her freshman season at SEU and getting to play in 17 of the 20 games with 2 goals and 2 assists along with 15 shots, 6 shots on goal, and a total of 634 mins of play time for an average of 37 mins per game.

Davidson, Madelyn - Game By Game StatisticsDate Opponent G A PTS SH SH% SOG SOG% MIN8/24/2022 Olivet Nazarene 0 0 0 1 0.000 1 1.000 388/27/2022 Trinity Christian 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 209/3/2022 William Carey 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 289/8/2022 Middle Georgia State 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 569/17/2022 Campbellsville 1 0 2 2 0.500 2 1.000 510/4/2022 Georgia Gwinnett 0 0 0 1 0.000 0 0.000 3410/6/2022 Florida Memorial 1 0 2 4 0.250 2 0.500 1610/8/2022 St. Thomas 0 2 2 0 0.000 0 0.000 3510/13/2022 Webber International 0 0 0 1 0.000 1 1.000 6610/22/2022 Keiser 0 0 0 2 0.000 0 0.000 5910/27/2022 Warner 0 0 0 1 0.000 0 0.000 5210/29/2022 SCAD Savannah 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 1811/1/2022 Thomas 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 2411/8/2022 SCAD Savannah 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 4211/12/2022 Keiser 0 0 0 3 0.000 0 0.000 5011/17/2022 Georgia Gwinnett 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 5111/19/2022 Westmont 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000 40
Table of stats – game by game

Now back to classes to finish out the year and then a new set of classes to close out her freshman year. CONGRATULATIONS on a great 2022 season.

To check out more on the season you can visit the SEU Women’s Soccer page.

Latest updates from the soccer pitch…

It’s been a while since I last posted and so wanted to bring you the updates since then. The last update provided details on where the regular season ended and today’s will continue with the post season with updates from the Sun Conference as well as the National NAIA front.

Let’s start with the Sun Conference where SEU received a bye because they finished in the second position and then went on to play in the semi-finals against SCAD-Savannah.

In the semi-finals, Madelyn had 42 minutes of playing time as the SEU girls took an early lead and closed out the game with a 2-1 victory to make it to the Sun Conference finals.

With the victory, the SEU girls remained in 9th position in the National Coaches poll. Northwest University happened to jump into the top 25 with their play too.

What a hard-fought game in the Sun Conference finals as the SEU girls possessed the ball for what felt like most of the first half and yet Keiser got the one goal of the game early into the second half. Madelyn got 3 shots in the game during her 50 minutes of playing time.

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | 11/12/2022 4:45:00 PM | Donnie SmithWomen’s Soccer a Goal Short in SUN FinalFirst RoundNext Game:First Round11/17/2022 | 3:30 p.m.FULL SCHEDULEROSTERMATCHUP HISTORYWEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Southeastern generated a majority of the scoring chances in The Sun Conference Women's Soccer Tournament Championship, but a fastbreak by Keiser down the right sideline resulted in the lone tally of the game and kept the Seahawks unbeaten. Lauren Riley served a ball from the right wing to the top of the box where Maja Henriksson made one defender miss and placed the ball in the back left corner of the net with 24:42 to play to give Keiser (19-0-1) the 1-0 win. Henriksson has scored all three Keiser goals against the Fire this season. Southeastern (13-3-2) was denied a third-straight tournament title despite holding a 15-14 advantage in shots and a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks. The Fire were the aggressor in the first half, holding a 9-5 edge in shots and forced Grace McClellan to make three of her season-high eight saves in the first half. Two of SEU's best chances didn't result in saves as a shot from in the box in the 26th minute cleared the crossbar and a header off a cornerkick in the 33rd went off the crossbar. Southeastern kept the pressure up through the first 15 minutes of the second half as well, firing off two more shots that were saved. It was right after a save by McClellan the Seahawks ran the fastbreak down the sideline with a serve by the keeper that deflected off a defender in the midfield to set up Riley. McClellan made two more saves in the final 21 minutes to record her 11th shutout of the season. Holly Eddins made seven saves in goal for Southeastern. The Fire will return to action on Thursday in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament in Lakeland. Pairings will be announced Monday at noon.

Although this brought the Sun Conference regular and post-season to an end, it’s not the end for the girls from SEU soccer as they are now heading to the National arena where they will get to host 2 games on their home field. NAIA announced that they will get to host first and second rounds Nov 3rd. They get to play their first game this coming Thursday with more details to be announced tomorrow (Monday).

Our local reporter Rhett Workman from the SnoValley Sports Journal provided the following updates over this time:

NAIA Southeastern University of Florida closed out the regular season with a 2-0 road win yesterday afternoon over Thomas University down in Thomasville, GA. This game was a makeup from a game that had been postponed earlier in the season due to Hurricane Ian. Freshman Madelyn “Mad Dog” Davidson, who graduated from CHS back in June, came off the bench in this one for the Fire. Davidson, from Carnation, played 24 minutes with no stats of note reported, as Southeastern finished the 2022 fall regular season at 12-2-2, 6-1-1 in Sun Conference play. They will host a playoff game next Tuesday at their home field in Lakeland, FL, which is between Tampa and Orlando in the central part of the state.
Soccer: Cedarcrest HS girls advance in playoffs, to face arch-rival next with season on line – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)
With Northwest already having clinched a spot as previously mentioned, CoI got the conference’s tournament title-winner berth, so both teams will be advancing to nationals, which start next weekend. Northwest is likely to be assigned to the regional site in Prescott, AZ, with CoI’s site to be determined. Among the other regional sites is in Lakeland, FL, which will be hosted by Southeastern University, which features another Valley athlete, Madelyn Davidson, a freshman – and CHS alum – from Carnation. So we will see what happens. Tournament announcements will be made on Monday and we will have those for you on our Twitter feed @snovalleysports as soon as we get word.
News on a Saturday….. – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)
Keiser 1, Southeastern (FL) women 0: The Fire were denied a three-peat as SUN Conference (NAIA) Tournament champs, falling to the unbeaten in-state rivals. Freshman Madelyn Davidson, from Carnation and a 2022 Cedarcrest HS alum, came off the bench and logged 50 minutes, recording three shots, none on goal with no goals scored. Southeastern advances to the NAIA’s national tournament as a host school for regionals next weekend. They will find out their next opponent tomorrow.
Also on this Sunday…. – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)

November News to close out the regular season…

Since our last update on October 22nd, the season has come to a close with some pretty exciting news.

SEU finished the season strong with 2 victories:

Which allowed them to close out the season in position #2 within the Sun Conference and #9 in the national rankings in NAIA.

Sun Conference: Southeastern University finishes the season in second place.
2022-23 NAIA Women’s Soccer Coaches’ Top 25 Poll – Poll Nine (November 2, 2022)
Southeastern University finishes the season in ninth place nationally.
Southeastern Receives Women’s Soccer First and Second Round Host Site
Southeastern Receives Women’s Soccer First and Second Round Host Site
Bracket Overview for the Sun Conference

To close out the regular season, the individual team stats look like this:

Sorting by total points, we see:

To close out the regular season, the team stats look like this:

Scanning through pictures from the games, I found the following:

To close out the post I am going to share a couple of posts from the SnoValleySportsJournal:

Keiser 2, Southeastern (FL) women 0: A pair of first-half goals were the difference as the Fire were blanked at home in Lakeland, FL, by the top-ranked team in NAIA. Freshman Madelyn Davidson, she of Carnation and a 2022 Cedarcrest HS grad, came off the bench for Southeastern and logged 59 minutes with two shots, neither on goal with no goals scored.
Mount Si girls’ soccer is back in the playoffs for a second year in a row after shutout of Bothell – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)
Southeastern (FL) women 4, Savannah College of Art & Design 0: The Fire scored a big home win in Lakeland, FL, over the conference rival – and nationally-ranked – squad from Georgia. Freshman Madelyn Davidson started in midfield for Southeastern, but only logged 18 minutes of work with no stats of note reported. She is from Carnation and graduated from Cedarcrest HS back in June.
College scores….. – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)

A few more pics to close out the regular season…

Tough top 10 loss – #1 Keiser vs #10 Southeastern

Close game with Keiser getting 14 shots vs Southeastern 10. The final score was 2-0 for Keiser as they got 2 goals in the first half and the second half was scoreless.

LAKELAND, Fla.- In an NAIA Top 10 showdown, the No. 10 Southeastern University Fire fell to the top ranked team in the NAIA, Keiser University, by a score of 2-0 to move to 9-2-2 and 3-1-1 in the Sun Conference.Maja Henrikkson was responsible for both of the Seahawk's goals, posting one in the 19th minute and one in the 27th minute off of a Maja Lundman assist.Keiser managed 14 shots including six on goal while the Fire got off 10 shots, unable to convert any of their three shots on goal. Naira Lopez was responsible for two of the three shots on goal.Holly Eddins ended the contest with four saves.The Fire's next competition will be Warner University on Thursday on their home pitch at 7 p.m.https://fire.seu.edu/news/2022/10/22/womens-soccer-falls-to-no-1-seahawks.aspx

Game Stats:

Team StatisticsTeam StatisticsGame Stats KEISER SEUGoals 2 0Shots 14 10Shots on Goal 6 3Saves 3 4Corners 6 6Offsides 3 0Fouls 15 11Scoring Summary19:35KEISER Maja Henriksson*long run put into left corner27:36KEISER Maja HenrikssonAssisted By: Maja Lundman*off deflection into top right

Game Leaders:

Game LeadersChoose a category:LOPEZ,NAIRA#11 Naira LopezSHOTS 3SOG 2GOALS 0ASSISTS 0DAVIDSON,MADELYN#8 Madelyn DavidsonSHOTS 2SOG 0GOALS 0ASSISTS 0GARCIA,CHANEL#10 Chanel GarciaSHOTS 1SOG 0GOALS 0ASSISTS 0MATTHEWS,HANNAH#12 Hannah MatthewsSHOTS 1SOG 1GOALS 0ASSISTS 0

Rhett wrote up the details of the game as follows:

Keiser 2, Southeastern (FL) women 0: A pair of first-half goals were the difference as the Fire were blanked at home in Lakeland, FL, by the top-ranked team in NAIA. Freshman Madelyn Davidson, she of Carnation and a 2022 Cedarcrest HS grad, came off the bench for Southeastern and logged 59 minutes with two shots, neither on goal with no goals scored.
Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal – Mount Si girls’ soccer is back in the playoffs for a second year in a row after shutout of Bothell – Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal (wordpress.com)