Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org

GRINNELL, Iowa – Knox College won its third straight Midwest Conference (MWC) Championship and the right to host the 2018 MWC Women’s Soccer Tournament November 2-3. The Prairie Fire will open the tournament on Friday at 11 a.m. against the fourth seed Ripon College. Grinnell College and St. Norbert College will follow at 2:00 p.m. in the matchup between the two and three seeds respectively.

The winner of each game will advance to the championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Knox is looking for its third MWC Tournament win and trip to the national tournament in a row.

Ripon and Knox faced off in late September with the Prairie Fire rallying from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 win. The Red Hawks’ Paige Pierce scored both goals as part of her league-leading 38 points. Pierce’s 16 goals for the season ranks one behind the conference-leader. Camrie Schmitz and Brianna Schnell also rank in the top ten in points and goals as Ripon finished second in the league with 44 goals, 2.44 per game.

Knox was just behind Ripon in goal scoring as the Prairie Fire scored 41 goals this season for an average of 2.41 per game. The Prairie Fire had a balanced attack as six players had at least three goals with Lydia Mitchell and Brooklyn Deming leading the team with six a piece. Rosie Medina and Cayne Randle were the key contributors in the win over the Red Hawks as Randle scored the first and game-winning goals while Medina tied the game and assisted on the winner.

The second game of the day features two teams familiar with the MWC Tournament as Grinnell and St. Norbert have both made the tournament the last three seasons. However, they haven’t faced off against each other in the postseason since 2013 when the Green Knights won 3-1. St. Norbert also won the regular season matchup this season thanks to two late goals from Monica Stephans.

Stephans is usually the one setting up her teammates as she is second on the team with seven assists. Madalyn Sanderfoot is St. Norbert’s leading scoring with ten goals and 21 points which rank fifth and sixth in the conference respectively. The Green Knights will be facing one of the league’s stingiest defenses as the Pioneers have the second lowest goals-against average at 1.03 and have only allowed 17 goals all season. Grinnell goalie Elizabeth Hunt has a save percentage of .802, a goals-against average of 1.05, and recorded three shut outs this season.

The Green Knights already conquered the Pioneer defense once this season though it took until the 78th minute to finally break through. Jordan Maddaus, Grinnell’s leading scorer with nine goals, gave the Pioneers the lead against St. Norbert before Stephans scored off a corner and a penalty kick. All but one of Madduas’ goals came in conference play and she also tied for the team lead in assists with six.

Grinnell is looking to return to the championship game after falling to Knox 1-0 in 2016 while St. Norbert hasn’t made it since the Green Knights won the tournament in 2013. The Prairie Fire hope to advance to their fifth consecutive final while Ripon is going for its first since 2014 which was also the Red Hawks last postseason appearance.

For all the tournament information and results check out the tournament page.