Lady Cavaliers leap to number 8 in national poll and NJCAA Championship

ALBANY – The Lady Cavaliers vowed to avenge a 2-0 loss to Brevard Community College in September. Their opportunity arrives at 9 a.m., Wednesday, at the NJCAA D-1 Women’s Soccer Championship in Melbourne, Fla. 

Darton earned a No. 8 seeding in the tournament, which placed them into Group A of pool play with No. 12 seed Muskegon Community College and, yes, No. 1-seeded, tournament-hosts Brevard. 

“I’m glad we’re seeded with them,” Darton head women’s soccer coach Ken Veilands said. “I know they’ve got the home-field advantage and this, that and the other, but it doesn’t matter. If we get a shot at Brevard, we want it.”

The Lady Cavs, who leapt from not being nationally ranked to 12^th, and then 8^th in the last two weeks of polls, are hot with nine straight wins as they enter the tournament. They beat Georgia Perimeter College (then ranked No. 10) in their last outing to win the Region title and earn a spot among the NJCAA’s final 12.

Darton’s first match is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, against No. 12-seed Muskegon Community College, of Michigan. The Muskegon Jayhawks are a first-year soccer program whose entrance into the national tournament is an unusual one. They lost in a Region XII final to Delta Community College, 1-0, but it was later known that Delta CC had an ineligible athlete, so the Jayhawks got the nod.

Muskegon is not ranked, has an 8-4 season record, and will face Brevard the day prior to their match with Darton. But Veilands is not taking them lightly.

“I’m not overlooking Muskegon,” he said. “They played Saturday-Sunday or Sunday-Monday matches all season long. They obviously know how to play back-to-back games, which is huge in a tournament.”

The tournament is divided into four pools, with each pool consisting of three teams. The winners of each pool will advance to the semifinal round, which begins Nov. 16.

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT POOLS