NJCAA Featured – An Untraditional Lineup Leads Anne Arundel to the National Tournament

The NJCAA is running a 2024-25 school year featured series on some of the organization's biggest sports storylines.

ARNOLD, M.D. – A one-of-a-kind roster. Unanticipated challenges. A beloved coach. This is the Anne Arundel women's soccer program that proved to be adaptive and tenacious enough to punch their ticket to the 2024 NJCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championship in Huntsville, Alabama.

At first glance of the Riverhawks' roster, the hometowns of the student-athletes are eye-catching. Every player and coach on the team is not only from the state of Maryland; they are all from Anne Arundel County, a rare occurrence in college athletics.

"I don't really look at recruiting primarily in this area as a challenge; it's just what we have to do," Anne Arundel women's soccer Head Coach Jim Griffiths explained. "We do not have on-campus housing and the cost of housing in this area is very expensive. This can make it challenging to recruit outside of Anne Arundel County, not to mention out of the state or out of the country. However, there is a lot of talent in Anne Arundel County, and we have been quite successful with the in-county student-athletes that want to get an education at AACC. While it would be nice to have the luxury of expanding our recruiting area, we are more than happy with the student-athletes we recruit now and hopefully will continue to have on our roster." 

The Riverhawks opened the season on Tuesday, August 27 at Harford. For one player in particular, this was an abnormal match. Midfielder Holly Wall slipped on a pair of keeper gloves and started between the sticks for Anne Arundel. The Riverhawks had only one goalkeeper on the roster for the 2024 season, Péla Saunders. Thus, when Saunders was unable to play due to injury, it opened up the intrasquad question every team jokes about: what field player will be the backup goalkeeper? Wall filled in at goalkeeper in nine  matches, logged 46 saves, and posted a 5-2-1 record in the net. 

"Holly had to step in for nine games while our starting keeper was out," Griffiths shared. "Holly is a tremendous athlete and an extremely hard worker who played basketball at AACC last year. When Péla went out, it was really a no brainer who was going to step in to the goal. Holly did an outstanding job during the time that she was in. When Péla returned, Holly returned to her midfield spot where we needed her, and where she played extremely well for the remainder of the season. She scored the game winning goal in our District Championship game vs. Mercer County."  

Wall is one of five student-athletes on Anne Arundel's roster that is a dual-sport athlete. Tadem Augustin and Sierra Lane played lacrosse for the Riverhawks in spring 2024. Chloe Underwood and McKenzie Gilbert are teammates with Holly Wall on the Anne Arundel women's basketball team.

Saunders' absence was not the only obstacle in the Riverhawks way at the start of the season. Leading goal-scorer, Emma Miga, missed the first four games of the fall as she recovered from offseason septoplasty surgery. Once Miga joined the lineup, the Riverhawks gained momentum. While sporting a protective face mask, Miga scored 16 goals and tallied 13 assists. She led Anne Arundel to a win over Rock Valley in pool play at the national tournament with three goal contributions.

"Emma's return was one of the keys to our success," Griffiths expressed. "Her numbers speak for themselves. She is a tireless worker with a great attitude. Once she got back in to game shape, we were a different team. She not only put up excellent numbers, but the chemistry between Emma, Jaylinn Sheffield, and Makenzie Boyd was great and was responsible for a large portion of our scoring this season. 

Miga, along with three teammates, received All-Region 20 honors for Division II Women's Soccer. The freshman led Region 20 in assists and ranked second in points and third in goals. She was also named to the Region 20 All-Tournament Team. Miga then recorded two goals and two assists in the East District Championship, securing the Riverhawks' spot in the national tournament.

The quartet of honorees this season are additions to the long list of All-Region players Jim Griffiths has coached. Griffiths was originally named the Head Coach for the Anne Arundel women's soccer program in 2001. Since then, the Riverhawks have been to the national tournament in all three NJCAA divisions. Additionally, Griffiths led the Anne Arundel women's lacrosse team to three NJCAA titles (2006, 2007, 2023) and coached the cross country team. Griffiths' devotion to the community in Anne Arundel County was evident outside the realm of the college, too. For 36 years, Griffiths taught at Wiley H. Bates Middle School. After his retirement in 2022, the school named the gym after him out of appreciation for his service.

"Coaching three sports was not something that I had envisioned doing," Griffiths commented. "All of them have been fulfilling in their own ways. I know that I was only able to do that due to the fact that I have had great assistant coaches, who have had long tenures at AACC in all three sports, who took some of the burden off of me. Currently, I am only coaching soccer and can focus all of my energy on soccer. At times it was a lot, but the rewards far outweighed the stress of trying to coach three programs. I have no regrets at all in making the decision to coach all three. This soccer season was one of the most enjoyable seasons that we have had as coaches at AACC. That is not necessarily due to the final record and getting to the national tournament, which did not hurt, but it was the attitudes of the players and the progression that was made from the first day to the last that really stands out and made the season so enjoyable and rewarding."