ALBION, Mich. – The Albion College women's soccer team can relate to the cliché about how good things come to an end.
The Britons defeated Adrian College, 2-1, on a chilly Monday evening at the Davis Athletic Complex to complete a 7-0-1 run through the second half of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association season. In the end, Albion dug too deep a hole by going 2-6 in the first round and the Britons fell just shy of advancing to the MIAA Tournament later in the week.
The record will show Albion and Alma College tied for fourth in the MIAA standings. Alma holds the head-to-head tiebreaker by gaining a victory and a draw against the Britons during the regular season.
"It's a life lesson in that you can't be inconsistent early on and expect good results and the end," Head Coach Eric Scott said.
"Nine seniors took a chance on me four years ago," Scott added. "I'm grateful for that. I think it showed in the last 20 minutes when we were resilient. The character of the seniors filters down and has created a culture in our program that I hope sticks around for a long time.
"I'm happy we were able to give the seniors something on the way out," he concluded.
While the seniors were taking a bow, it was a sophomore – Sarah Castellano – who produced the deciding goal. Castellano got her head on Jenna Urso's corner kick in the 53rd minute for her first collegiate goal.
Domenique Sarnecky, one of the Briton seniors, produced the contest's first goal – her eighth of the season and 33rd of her career – when she deposited a penalty kick in the 36th minute.
Adrian missed a pair of scoring chances – two shots, including one by Sofia Farah, clanked off the crossbar – but it broke up Albion's bid at a clean sheet when Caroline Fleming scored in the 79th minute.
Maggie Troost started the game in goal for Albion, making two saves in 82 minutes. Cameron Schmidt, a senior, was forced to make a save in the final eight minutes.
Albion finished the season 10-6-2 overall.
