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Led by two seniors working the opposite ends of the field and hailing from almost opposite points on the globe, the Tennessee Wesleyan College women’s soccer program has reached a place it has never been.
The Lady Bulldogs are in the NAIA national tournament, opening tonight at 7 at two-time defending champion Lee University in Cleveland.
“There’s nothing for us to lose. We’re going into it to leave our hearts on the field and hopefully come out with a win,” said senior goalkeeper Chealsey Baxter, who’s from McMinn Central High School in the same county as the Athens college.
Baxter got a 1-0 shutout against Milligan College in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament championship game, giving TWC its first NAIA nationals appearance. The day before, she was in the spotlight even longer as Wesleyan and Reinhardt played to a 2-2 tie through overtime in their semifinal and the Lady Bulldogs advanced with a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks.
“I love PKs,” Baxter said. “That’s always been one of my favorite things. A golden goal [game-ending score in overtime] is what gets me. You can’t come back from that. In PKs I’ve got five chances.”
One Reinhardt try was kicked over the goal, and Baxter blocked the fifth attempt.
She made the All-AAC second team along with fellow seniors Laura Swallows (from Crossville) and Tina Puricelli, sophomore forward Britten Fandrich and freshman forward Kimberly Key. Senior midfielder Helen Collins from New Zealand was the AAC offensive player of the year with 10 goals and four assists despite extra defensive attention.
Collins was joined on the first team by freshman midfielder Kelly Crew from Australia, the league’s newcomer of the year, and junior defender Deanna Dawson from Chicago.
Also among the Wesleyan players are the Kent triplets from Hixson: sophomores Kathleen and Rebecca and freshman Blair, Baxter’s backup.
Collins has been the central figure of the Lady Bulldogs’ offense since her arrival in 2007 from the same New Zealand school that produced coach Naomi Clarke, now in her fifth year in Athens.
Baxter, whose sister Tara is a TWC freshman redshirting this year after a preseason injury, quickly became friends with Collins, even though they have diametrical roles on the team.
“We hang out. I went to New Zealand with her during Christmas break of our sophomore year,” Baxter said.
Clarke has gradually built the program’s talent, depth and strategic training. The Lady Bulldogs are 11-6-2 but went 5-1 in AAC play for a three-way tie for first with Union College and Milligan. TWC had the tiebreakers to be the No. 1 seed and host for the conference tournament final four.
“Coach changed some stuff and used different coaching techniques this year,” Baxter said. “And we have a good mixture of players from the different classes. We’re not really based on just the starters, either: We’ve got a lot of depth on the bench, and we all get along very well.”
Despite the proximity of the campuses, the Lady Bulldogs have not played Lee during Baxter’s four years. That changes tonight.
n Also tonight, Bryan College hosts an NAIA men’s national opener. The 17-1-2 Lions, ranked No. 9 in the final coaches’ poll and seeded 14th for the tournament, will face Missouri’s Columbia College (12-5-3). That game starts at 6.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com at 423-757-6291.