“Going into that last game, there was a lot of tension.”
The nerves became even more jangled when the Raiders fell behind, 1-0, at Northern Kentucky just 32 seconds into the match Wednesday.
But they rallied for a 2-1 victory, earning the fourth seed and a home game at 1 p.m. Sunday against fifth-seeded Youngstown State.
“Even going down after 32 seconds, the kids on the bench were supporting their teammates, cheering them on, trying to get them back together,” Sobers said. “There wasn’t any finger pointing, there wasn’t any people looking at one another saying, ‘OK, who did this and who was wrong?’ It was, ‘C’mon, let’s go.’
“That just shows where we’ve come as a group in our culture. They care about each other and want to compete for each other.”
The Raiders, 5-2-3 in the league and 8-6-3 overall, will be playing in the tourney for the first time in three years. They met the Penguins (5-3-2, 7-7-3) on the road Sept. 18 and prevailed, 2-0.
Oakland (5-2-3, 8-3-7) earned the third seed and will host IUPUI (4-3-3, 8-3-6) in the other quarterfinal Sunday.
For the seventh time in eight years, Milwaukee (7-1-2, 10-3-3) claimed the top seed, while Purdue Fort Wayne (5-1-4, 9-3-6) snagged the other bye as the second seed.
The Panthers will play the lower remaining seed among the quarterfinal winners, while the Mastodons will get the higher seed. Those matches will be Thursday in Milwaukee with the finals there Saturday.
The Raiders, who will be looking for their first tourney win since 2017 and first title since 2000, have had a major turnaround after going 5-10-3 last year.
“As the season wore on, the players really bought into the team concept and the way we were asking them to play. And compared to last year, the belief was just a little stronger this year,” Sobers said.
“Even when we had tough situations as a group, we believed we could come out of it.”
They’re tied with Robert Morris for second-most goals in the league with 28 (they gave up 31), while the Milwaukee tallied the most goals with 33 (allowing 13).
Lauren Borchert, a junior midfielder from Richfield, Ohio, was first in the league in shots on goal with 27.
Marcella Sizer, a senior forward from Waynesville, was third in points with 15 (six goals, three assists), while Olivia Mace, a sophomore midfielder from Centerville, tied for second in assists with six.
But when Raider opponents formulate a game plan, it begins with shutting down senior forward Olga Massombo, a native Canadian who was first-team all-league last season.
“She’s someone everyone talks about. She’s dangerous, so teams prepare for her and scout for her,” Sobers said. “You won’t see her in the stat line, but she’s a really important piece for us.”
On Friday, Sizer and Massombo were named to the Horizon League first team, with Sizer earning offensive player of the year honors. Borchert was a second-team, all-league selection and Elise Canter (Beavercreek) and Kaylee Pham (Springboro) were named to the league’s all-freshman team.
Now that they’re in, the Raiders have plenty of reasons for optimism. They handed the HL champs their only league loss and tied PFW.
But they’re not the only team in the field thinking they have a legitimate shot at the title.
“Everybody in the tournament can probably say that — just because of how competitive and close the league was this year,” Sobers said.
“But going in with the games we’ve played, we feel we have as good a chance as anyone.”
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