Women's Soccer

    The Swedes, under tutelage of first year head coach Kenny Jaramillo, brought home their first-ever KCAC women's soccer championship.  The Swedes shared their 1998 KCAC tri-champion title with the Bethel College Threshers and the Friends University Falcons.

    In the KCAC Post-season Tournament action Bethany defeated Bethel in the semifinals, then went on to hand the FU Lady Falcons their second-ever loss to a KCAC opponent as Bethany captured the KCAC Tourney title.

    By virtue of that win, Bethany went on to represent the conference in the NAIA Great Plains Regional competition November 5.   Playing at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota, Bethany lost a semifinal contest, 3-1 in a hard fought match.

    "In the post-season we really came out and showed some consistency, which we hadn't been able to find all season, and I believe that was the difference for us," Jaramillo said.

    "We played well.  We showed well for Bethany and for our team.  We played hard for 60 minutes at the Great Plains match, but after they scored their second goal we couldn't get the needed extra effort.   We had a strong showing, and the women played with a lot of heart," Jaramillo said.  "We overcame difficulties this year, having only 13 players, but the women worked hard to be creative both in practice and in matches.  The team met all our goals this year, as we improved on last year's 8-10 record, showed well for our seniors, got several individual honors, and beat defending champion Friends University at least once."

    "This year our captains (Dawn Black, Joleen Kellams, Kirstin Medley) did a good job and their leadership helped us play really above our talent level," Coach Jaramillo said.

    Bethany's forward Medley, Oceanside, CA, led the team in scoring, followed by Leah Antonetti, Folsum, CA, and Black, San Diego, CA.   Antonetti led the team in assists, followed by Medley and Black.  BC goalkeeper Christine Bender in 1670 minutes had 8 shutouts, 101 saves, 14 goals allowed, and a .750 goals-against-average.  Medley was named KCAC Offensive Player of the Year and Black was named KCAC Defensive Player of the Year.

    Bethany in regular season had records of 7-1-0 KCAC, and 13-4-0 overall.  Since 1994, when the KCAC initiated women's soccer as an intercollegiate sport, the loss by the Friends Lady Falcons' was FU's first-ever KCAC post-season tournament loss.  Bethany initiated women's soccer in 1994.

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