Lady Roadrunners end season with a heartbreaking loss

Sedalia, Missouri-The third-seeded State Fair Community College (SFCC) Lady Roadrunners' soccer team battled through regulation and overtime before falling in penalty kicks against Jefferson College in the opening round of the Region 16 Tournament at the Smith-Cotton High School Soccer Field in Sedalia on Sunday Oct. 26.

Jefferson got on the scoreboard first with less than 29 minutes remaining in the opening half. Jefferson took the 1-0 lead into halftime.

The Lady Roadrunners (8-6-1) turned up the pressure to begin the second half. SFCC tied the match with a goal from sophomore forward Ella Smith 30 seconds into the second half.

Both teams had chances to take the lead in regulation, but neither could break the 1-1 tie. The match couldn't be decided even after 20 minutes of overtime.

Jefferson advanced in the tournament winning the penalty shootout.

Freshman goalkeeper Valeria Morales got the start in goal for SFCC.

"It was a hard game," said associate head soccer coach Roberto Tucker. "We knew it was going to be because Jefferson was playing well against St. Charles and Mineral Area. We had been practicing penalty kicks for a week, or a week and a half. Our team is very young. It was good game. We fought back and had a lot of chances to score. We had three breakaways that we didn't finish. It was a heartbreaking loss, but we need to continue to keep working."

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics