HATTIESBURG, Miss. (Apr. 15, 2021) – The No. 3-seeded Truett McConnell University women's soccer team, who is receiving votes in the latest NAIA National Top 25 Poll, faced No. 21 Cumberland University, the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Bracket, at William Carey University in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round. The Lady Bears fell 2-0 to the Phoenix, which put an end to their longest season in program history (13-5-2, 12-0-1 AAC).
 
The Lady Bears completed the season ranked fourth in the NAIA in total shutouts (11), 17th in total goals (51), 20th in shots on goal per game (10.79), 20th in shutouts per game (0.580), 21st in shots per game (20.210), 21st in total assists (33), 31st in goals per game (2.680) and 35th in assists per game (1.740). 
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
It took 15 minutes for the Phoenix to first find the back of the net (1-0) after five unsuccessful attempts. Three minutes later, Cumberland struck again (2-0) but that would be the last time the rest of the way. In fact, the Phoenix were held to just one more shot the rest of the first half, while Lauren Bergevine and AK Navas took one shot apiece for the Lady Bears. The Lady Bears went on to open up the second half with three shots, to Cumberland's zero, and earned a corner kick within a matter of four minutes. Overall, the second half saw Cumberland take a total of nine shots, while TMU had five. The Lady Bears, however, earned three corner kicks to the Phoenix's two. But neither team was ultimately capable of scoring in the final 45 minutes of regulation as the Phoenix, who rank 11th in the country in shutouts per game (0.670), clinched the 2-0 shutout over TMU. 
 
COACH'S COMMENTS
"It was a frustrating way for us to end the season. For most of the spring we have not started games well and tonight it was the same story," Head Coach David McDowell said. "Once we went 2-0 down, we started to play but we were playing against a team that doesn't give up many goals, so it made things difficult. I know we will learn from all that we experienced this spring but at the moment it's a tough pill to swallow because we had high hopes going into the postseason, especially after a very successful fall season.
 
It will be tough to lose Marissa Harkins who has been a strong and impactful presence for us in defense and we are grateful for all that she and Tori Wilson have given to our program."
 
LEADERS
Bergevine individually led with three shots, one on goal, while fellow sophomore Ashleigh Smitherman added two. Freshmen Brianna Hernandez and Navas also took one shot on goal apiece. Freshman goalkeeper Addy Galason recorded a total of six saves on the day.