Mohawk Valley's Womens Soccer team is no stranger to the NJCAA National Tournament. For the second year in a row, Coach Vitales girls have competed on the big stage at the national tournament solidfying the Hawks as a legitimate contender each and every year.
In the first round of the National tournament, the Hawks took on Brookdale Community College, with hopes of landing in the NJCAA Final four. After the long trip to North Carolina, it was evident from the opening whistle that Vitale had his girls ready to go. Just 6 minutes into the contest Krista Panko scored the Hawks first goal of the afternoon, off of an assist by Megan Canipe to start things off.
As the game went on, it was clear that the Hawks were content playing the possession game and waiting for another opportunity to strategically find the net again. Just before halftime Mohawk Valley's patience finally paid off. In the 43rd minute, Krista Panko once again fired a shot on goal, and ended the first half for the Hawks with an impressive goal off of a pass from Alexis Bates to take all of the momentum heading into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
As the second half started it was evident that Panko had some big plans for her team, and she was ready to impose her will on a pesky Brookdale team. Just 5 minutes into the second half, Krista Panko returned the favor to Alexis Bates, as Bates found the back of the net off of a pass from Panko this time around. The 3-0 lead sent the Hawks bench into a frenzy, and that momentum carried on into the next 5 minutes.
Just 1 minute later, Alexis Bates played a ball to Krista Panko, and again she found the back the net with a right footed strike to take a 4-0 lead. The Hawks closed out the scoring in the 56th minute when Amber Piersma scored her first goal of the game on an assist from, you guessed it, Krista Panko, to give the Hawks a decisive 5-0 victory.
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With the victory, Mohawk Valley's road to a national title would need to run through a very talented Dallas College Brookhaven team. It was obvious early on that although the Hawks were more then ready to play, Brookhaven had an overwhelming level of urgency as well.
Just 10 minutes into the game, DCB found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead over the Hawks. After that initial goal, the Hawks and the Bears played an even half of soccer with both teams fighting tooth and nail to create opportunities to score. Just before half, the Bears broke through and found the back of the net to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Mohawk Valley.
As the game went on, the second half was filled with heavy action around the goal on both sides. However, despite Mallory Mowers goal in the 86th minute, and Mohawk Valley's best attempt, they were unable to overcome the Bears offense. The Hawks' national title hopes unfortunately ended in the final four with a difficult 3-1 loss to the eventual national champions, Dallas College Brookhaven.
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Just two days later, Mohawk Valley faced a talented opponent in Suffolk Community College in the 3rd place game of the 2023 NJCAA National Championships. With the teams deadlocked in the first half with a 0-0 score, the second half was sure to not disapoint for fans traveling to North Carolina from both sides of the matchup! Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Pcola was impressive all afternoon for the Hawks, as she tallied 7 saves over the course of the highly competitive contest. In the 60th minute, the 0-0 score was finally broken when Amber Piersma buried a shot into the back of the net on a pass from Krista Panko, to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead!
After that goal from Amber Piersma, the Hawks defense were able to hold off a pesky Suffolk attack for the next 30 minutes and lock in the 1-0 win for Mohawk Valley. The win gave Coach Vitale and his hawks an impressive 3rd place finish in the 2023 NJCAA National Tournament. The 3rd place finish in 2023 follows up a 2nd place finish in the 2022 season for the Mohawk Valley Hawk's Women's soccer team.
Following the victory, Krista Panko was named All Tournament Team alonside her teammatte Ryann DePerno.