Tori Rittman Oct. 30, 2007

23 seconds left—Rittman scores Central winner

MOUNT VERNON—With just 23 seconds left Central College career women’s soccer scoring leader Tori Rittman (senior, Ankeny) did what she does best, knocking home the winning goal and pushing the Dutch past Cornell College 2-1 in the Iowa Conference Tournament Tuesday.    

The sixth-seeded Dutch (10-5-2) move on to face second-seeded Wartburg College (15-3) in the league semifinals Friday at 11 a.m. at Loras College in Dubuque. Top-seeded Loras College (13-6) will play at 1:30 p.m. Friday, meeting the winner of a Wednesday evening play-in featuring fifth-seeded Luther College (7-11-1) at fourth-seeded Dubuque (13-4-2). Friday’s winners move on to the championship match Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

It was Rittman’s second goal of the match. She had given Central an early lead, scoring on a penalty kick in the 17th minute. But third-seeded Cornell (7-8-1), which defeated Central 2-1 Oct. 3 at Mount Vernon, knotted the score 1-1 when Brianna Wallace netted her seventh goal of the season with 19:36 remaining.

Then in the final minute Rittman took a pass from midfielder Kristi Klatt (freshman, Cedar Falls) and delivered the decisive score. It was her 12th goal of the season and the 52nd of her Central career. It was also a team-high seventh assist for Klatt.

“Kristi won a ball in the corner, beat her mark and cut her a couple of times, then got it to Tori who bundled it in,” said coach Rick Burns.

“Cornell dominated the second half,” Burns said. “We played without conviction much of the half. It seemed like they were pounding us. They finally got the tying goal, but then somehow in the last 5-6 minutes, we had four good chances. We completely changed course and took control. Tori had a shot hit the bar with about 3 minutes to go and then she scored.”

Central had a slim 11-9 shot advantage while Cornell led in corner kicks 10-4. Dutch goalkeeper Michelle Gilbert (senior, West Des Moines, Valley HS) had three saves.

“Michelle had a very good game,” Burns said. “She came out of the box and punched the ball clear probably a dozen times.”

It’s the first time Central has advanced in Iowa Conference tourney play and the first tournament win for the Dutch since a third-place game victory in 2000. The 10 victories in 2007 give the Dutch their second-highest season total in the program’s history.

“In 27 years of coaching, I’ve never had a team that comes back like this one does,” Burns said. “This is the sixth time we’ve come back in the last 5 minutes of the game. It’s a gritty team. We lack guile but we show great industriousness."

“I’m really pleased. We’ve made great strides.”

Wartburg prevailed 2-1 in its previous meeting with Central at Pella Oct. 6.

“We’re a clear underdog, but we’re going with the idea that we’ve got a chance,” Burns said. “We’ve reached the point we have a chance against anybody.”