The UNCW women’s soccer team won its first ever Colonial Athletic Association title with a narrow 1-0 victory over James Madison in Sunday’s tournament final in Brookline, Mass. Sophomore midfielder Erin Pardini netted the game’s only goal after the Seahawks were awarded a late penalty kick.

The 80th minute strike was Pardini’s second game-winner of the tournament on the way to picking up the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player honors. Pardini also scored an overtime goal to down Hofstra in the semifinals.

The Seahawks were forced to withstand some early pressure from the Dukes before gaining a foothold in the second half. Freshman goalkeeper Caitlin Hunter was called into action five times on the way to posting her third shutout of the season.

After being out-shot 8-1 in the opening period, the Seahawks recovered and took control after the intermission. Midfielders Megan Novak and Meagan Simeone came close to opening the scoring with long-range efforts before UNCW was awarded the vital penalty kick with just over 10 minutes remaining.

Freshman forward Stephanie Rose was brought down in the box allowing Pardini to step up for her first ever penalty kick. The sophomore showed no signs of nerves, confidently blasting a shot inside the right post. The lone strike was enough to snatch the title as the Seahawks kept the Dukes off the scoreboard for the remaining 10 minutes.

Head coach Paul Cairney was adamant about finishing the game off and getting the late goal. “It doesn’t matter when you score,” he said. “All that matters is you score more than the other team.”

Winning the CAA title also qualifies the Seahawks for their first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament where they will travel to Chapel Hill to face Georgia in a first round match-up Friday. The winner will take on the winner of top-seeded North Carolina and Elon.

Cairney was quick to give credit to the team as well as past players. “I think this means a lot to every player that has ever come through the program,” he said. “We’re still a relatively young program, and this reflects on all their work and struggles they had to face.”

The excitement of bringing a first CAA championship back to Wilmington is a tough thing to play down. But that’s exactly what Cairney and the Seahawks must do with little time to prepare for the NCAA tournament.

“Obviously we’re excited,” he said. “But we have to come back to what we’ve focused on the whole season which has been to win the next game. The girls have done a great job to come down and get prepared.”

Focusing on the next game is all the Seahawks can do now with the one-and-done format of tournament play. According to Cairney, the team will tackle each game from this point as a whole new season.

“That’s what we said before the conference tournament and now it’s true again,” he said. “The fact of the matter is, we’re one of 64 teams still playing in Division I. It is new season.”

With his team only needing to travel a few hours up I-40 for their first round match-up, Cairney is excited about the prospect of playing a tournament game close to home. “I think we’ll have more people there,” he said. “It will be exciting for our parents and alumni. It should be a great experience.”

The Seahawks will kick-off against Georgia Friday at 7:30 p.m. at North Carolina’s Fetzer Field following UNC’s match-up with Elon. The two winners will go head-to-head in the second round Sunday at 1 p.m. at the same location.