Chaparral Women’s soccer plowed through the semi-finals of the regional tournament this week, beating Madison College 3-0. The Chaparral squad has been undefeated within the region, beating Madison College twice prior to this matchup, scoring three or more points in each match.

Although the team had a high probability of victory going into this match, they left nothing to chance by playing with aggression on all fronts, which led to their first shutout against the regional rival. While talking about Madison, Head Coach Willie Fajkus said, “Madison is a tough opponent. They came out pretty physical, and I think we just had a little more depth than they did. Today was a big win, a good win, and an important win. I’m happy.”

One aspect of the Chap’s game that was particularly strong was their defensive line, which held back the Madison offense and only letting them have a handful of shots on goal. Due to the back line’s aggressive play, both Chaparral goalies Kylie Paul and Meghan Diddia were able to stay focused and keep the ball from going to the back of the net. Even when the back line slipped those handful of times, the goalies were able to single in on the ball before Madison could create a chance.

Lucas Koprowski

While talking about the Chap’s defensive line, Diddia said, “I thought we came out and played with a ton of intensity. I think they did really well, and I definitely couldn’t have kept the shutout without them on the field.” Diddia blocked the four shots on goal that the team endured during the second half of the game.

The offense also played exceptionally well, gaining the lead early in the first half before the 20th minute. One of the strongest players on the team, Kaitlyn Fehrman was able to create opportunities for her squad to take advantage of on the field. Although she did divert from her usual fast-paced playing style during the game, she tried to lead the offensive squad by taking the ball far down the middle.

While discussing the team’s performance versus Madison, Fehrman stated, “It was fast, faster than last time we played them. We’ve played them on all different types of terrain, but we showed up, and that’s all that we asked for.”

Lucas Koprowski

While Fehrman scored the final goal at the 73’, Captain Alexis Espositista-Aliga scored early in the game at the 13’ to break the ice, then Ashley Falco scored at the 17’. Even though the Chaps offense were on fire in this match, it was obvious that the Madison goalie Lindsay Hamilton was completely off her game.

Throughout the game, she made silly mistakes that led to the score being 3-0. For the goal by Falco, the goalie stood there and looked limp while Falco took the shot. She obviously thought the ball was going out of play, but in actuality the ball lofted just above her head and hit the back of the net, making the score 2-0.

Another instance where she didn’t play efficiently was in a situation where she almost received a red card. At the 66’, she slid outside the goalie box on the left side to grab the ball, knocking into a Chaparral player. If she would have knocked down the Lady Chap, this would have resulted in a red card, but it only ended up being a yellow card and a substitution. Overall, her poor performance combined with the Chaps ambition to win led to the victory in the semi-final match.

Lucas Koprowski

Heading into the Regional Championship match against Harper College, the Chaparral team has been dominating this entire season, being 10-0 for conference and 14-5-1 for the season. The team is also on a five game winning streak, which includes 4 of the 10 conference wins. The team has also played more regulation games than anyone in the nation, playing 20 games. Within those 20 games, the team has already beaten Harper College twice, both being shutouts and the first being a landslide victory, 6-0.

With the Lady Chaps beating Harper College at the Regional Championship on Tuesday Oct. 27 4-1, they are heading into the District Championship against Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Minnesota next week on Halloween.