Point Park women’s soccer lost 3-0 to the Concord University Mountain Lions on Sunday afternoon in the Mountain East Conference Soccer Championship Quarterfinal.
“Concord is very physical and very direct in their play. It’s not anything special but when it’s done repeatedly it causes so much wear and tear to their opponent,” head coach Colin Baker said following the loss. “Our team did a phenomenal job of competing against them and still created chances to score goals, but sometimes the ball bounces the other way. Congrats to Concord and we wish them the best moving into the next round.”
The Pioneers were making their first postseason appearance since Point Park made the move to the NCAA Division II and the MEC.
“I think we set out this year to prove to everyone that we deserve to be in the MEC,” captain Gilliane Stewardson said. “After a tough start last year we needed to prove to administration, our coach, our opponents — but especially ourselves — that we are a DII program that can play at this level. Making it to the playoffs is a crucial part of that, it’s all about getting better every year and we accomplished that.”
The big story in the game today was the offense of Concord’s Tiana Campbell. Campbell led the MEC with 15 goals and 34 points during the regular season. She got the Mountain Lions on the board first at 8:51 into the first half.
Campbell would add another goal with 19:22 remaining in the second half, heading the inbound kick from Ella Rowell past Point Park goalkeeper Frederieke Rijlaarsdam.
Campbell completed the hat trick with 2:11 remaining in the match, as she found the loose ball in front of the net following a corner kick.
“Concord is an aggressive team and Tiana Campbell is no different,” Stewardson said. “She’s a strong player physically and she was able to get to a couple balls before we were able to.”
Rijlaarsdam stopped four out of the seven Concord shots on goal, while Concord goalkeeper Maddie Loughborough stopped all four Pioneer shots on goal.
Baker still had immense praise for his team and how they improved throughout the season despite being eliminated from the tournament on Sunday.
“I’ve said it all season, but all of the improvement, the wins, and the buzz that was created was because of the team,” Baker said. “It’s one thing for us as a staff to bring ideas, sessions, and experiences to help them, but the way this team implemented a style of play and created an identity for themselves in a tough DII conference and region speaks for itself.
“They showed grit, resilience, love, commitment, and determination to prove to others they can compete at this level and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Baker also discussed the value of the postseason experience for his team and how they can use it as motivation in the future.
“I think experience is important in how you navigate moments, emotions, and execution in playoff games and environments,” Baker said. “They should be wanting more from themselves and now have that standard and expectation within the team to want to be playing in November every year with a chance to compete for a conference championship.”
Point Park did come out of the week with an exciting victory, as forward Rebecca Pihlgren was named the MEC Freshman of the Year on Friday. She finished the season with eleven goals and five assists in seventeen games played. Pihlgren was also named to the 2025 All-MEC First Team and the 2025 All-MEC Freshman Team.
Concord University now moves on to the MEC Soccer Championship Semifinal, traveling to Fairmont, W. Va. to take on No. 1 seed Fairmont State on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
