VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- For the first time in 16 years, Virginia Wesleyan will take the Final Four stage. This time, the Marlins hope to finish the job.
VWU hit the field for its final Monday practice of the season, just two days before departing for Salem where the Marlins will battle for a national championship this weekend. They reached this point by taking down defending national champion and previously unbeaten Christopher Newport in the Elite Eight. Topping a rival and dethroning CNU was quite a way to springboard into the Final Four.
"Playing them and having the opportunity to win on [penalty kicks] is amazing," Virginia Wesleyan head coach Jeff Bowers said. "That celebration between our players and the student body brought our campus community together as well, which was awesome.
"CNU has always been a rival for us," added junior outside back Victoria Gonzalez. "It's always been our goal to beat them. We haven't beaten them in a long time."
The victory over the Captains propelled VWU into its first Final Four since 2006. That's where Case Western Reserve awaits in Friday's national semifinal. After a five day break, the Marlins returned to campus focused on the Spartans, but Bowers wants to make sure his players are also appreciating what they've accomplished.
"Even sometimes when you have the best teams, anything can happen in soccer," the head coach noted. "It's not the nicest game sometimes, so obviously I think our players realize the magnitude of this."
"It wasn't until Thanksgiving break where I kind of took a step back from soccer where I realized we're in the Final Four," smile Gonzalez. "A lot of teams can't say that and a lot of people who play college soccer dream of this, so being able to say that I accomplished this and looking back on my college years, I'm never going to forget it."
The Marlins are 18-2-4 on the season and will have a stiff test in Case Western Reserve come Friday. The Spartans enter Friday 19-0-1 on the year and come in ranked fourth in the country among NCAA Division III teams. While Virginia Wesleyan is laser-focused on the game right in front of it, the Marlins also acknowledge just how big picking up two more wins and claiming a national title would be to the program and the school.
"Just thinking about it, I can't stop smiling," said Gonzalez. "I think being able to call ourselves national champions, no better feeling in the world."
"That's amazing, right?," Bowers laughed. "I think everyone would be fired up to do that and that's the goal."
Virginia Wesleyan and Case Western Reserve face off at 4:00 PM on Friday afternoon at Roanoke College in Salem. Messiah and Johns Hopkins will meet in the first semifinal at 1:00 PM. The winners of each match will meet for the national title on Sunday.
