Daytona Beach, FL- No. 7 Daytona State Falcons advance to the Region 8 Finals with a win on Thursday night over Polk State College 2-1in the semi-final. This marked the third win over the Eagles this season.

The Falcons for the first time in school history finished first in Region 8 regular season play and share the title of Co-Champions with Eastern Florida. Both teams went 3-1-0 in regular season play and split head-to-head play. Daytona State is now 14-1 on the season and will advance for the third time in the last three years to the Region 8 Finals.

Daytona State scored late in the second half when Freshman, Jada Clarke (Orlando, FL) was slipped a perfect pass at the top of the penalty area from Freshman, Mariona Gamez (Barcelona, Spain). Clarke with a brilliant first touch set herself up beating the defender and putting the ball in the back of the net in the 39^th minute of play.

The score would remain 1-0 for the Falcons until the 74^th minute when a penalty would be called against the Daytona State. Kidwell would step up for the Eagles and score as Freshman goalkeeper, Emma Broch Laursen (Randers, Denmark) would get a touch but would slip under her hand.

Daytona State would continue to put the second half pressure on the Eagles as they outshot Polk State 10-4 in the second half. Sophomore, Akari Kishida (Tokyo, Japan) would score the game winning goal in the 80^th minute of play as she would pick off a miss clearance from the Eagles.

"I am proud of the ladies and the resilience that they continue to show this season, after slipping to #7 this week with one loss on the season, we feel we have something to prove.  Our body of work should speak for itself, but we plan to continue to keep our sights on our vision and goals. Our game changers were strong coming off the bench for us and we were able to utilize a lot of players.  The depth we have is incredible and will certainly play a role in our success as we attempt to make a run at the National Tournament." said Head Coach, Hope Clark

The Falcons held the advantage in shots 14-6 and corner kicks 3-0 on the night. Laursen would pick up two saves. Daytona State has now scored 59 goals on the season and holds 0.47 goals against average.

Up next, the Falcons will head to Melbourne, FL where they will face No. 6 Eastern Florida in the Region 8 Final on Saturday, October 28^th at 6 pm.