An early second-half connection between Halle Barnard and Alexis Suptela lifted the Hope College women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Simpson College in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Francis Olympic Field at Washington University in St. Louis.
With their sixth consecutive win, the Flying Dutch improved to 14-3-2 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. Hope will face host and third-ranked Washington University in St. Louis — the reigning national champions — on Saturday, November 14, at 6 p.m. Central.
"It's super sweet," head coach Holly Van Noord said after her team's breakthrough performance. "I think of all the women who have been in the program and are currently on the team; this win is a result of hard work, effort and doing the right things. I'm very proud of this team."
Suptela (Palatine, Illinois / William Fremd) snapped a scoreless tie 1 minute, 23 seconds into the second half with her team-leading ninth goal of the season.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes in which Hope controlled the offensive tempo, outshooting the Storm 8-2 and earning three corner kicks, the Flying Dutch broke through on a play similar to the first goal in last week's 2-0 MIAA Tournament championship win at No. 15 Calvin University.
Senior Halle Barnard (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford HS) sprinted up the far side and sent a crisp center pass to Suptela, who blasted her right-footed shot powerfully into the right corner of the net for the game's lone goal.
"You practice plays like that, but you also you utilize your strengths and athleticism. We have been very good from the wide space this season," Van Noord said. "It was also jsut great discipline from Alexis to bury that. In tournament time, those can be tough, especially on the volleys."
Hope generated consistent pressure throughout the match, testing Simpson goalkeeper early and often. Following Suptela's goal, Simpson countered, pushed forward in search of an equalizer, outshooting Hope 6-5 in the second period.
However, Hope's backline, anchored by full-90-minute performances from defenders Mia Hesley (Portage, Michigan / Portage Central), Audra Usiak (Dimondale, Michigan / Lansing Christian), and Kayla Cannon (Holland, Michigan / Unity Christian), held firm.
The trio supported senior goalkeeper Clara Feenstra (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville), who recorded three saves across her 90 minutes in net, including key second-half stops to secure the postseason shutout, and Hope's seventh shutout in a row.
"Our defense has played very well this year," Van Noord said. "Clara's been a rock on our backline. All of our defenders rocks, too. Defense is a team effort. It;s been fun to see everyone united and play really hard."
Hope faces its biggest test of the season in WashU (16-1-2), which routed Belhaven, 8-0, in Friday's first game.
