Highlights from Women's College Conference Tournaments

by TDS 11/7/2007

Selected match details from college conference tournaments through the weekend.

Results will be updated in the conference section of College Soccer HQ.


Wednesday
ACC Quarterfinal: Tar Heels beat Clemson

North Carolina¹s stout defense held Clemson to
four shots and three different forwards scored for the Tar Heels, including two goals by reserves, as top-seeded UNC downed eighth-seeded Clemson Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the 2007 ACC Tournament at Disney¹s Wide World of Sports Complex. The Tar Heels improve to 16-3 on the season with their ninth straight win and they will play in the tournament semifinals Friday at 5 p.m.

This marks the 20th straight year the Tar Heels have advanced to the ACC semifinals and it improved Carolina¹s all-time record in ACC Tournament play to 50-0-2. Clemson is now 9-5-5 as the Tigers await their NCAA fate next Monday when bids are announced.

The Tar Heels opened the scoring in the 16th minute of the match on sophomore forward Nikki Washington¹s third goal of the season. The scoring play started when senior defender Jessica Maxwell sent a pass to junior midfielder Allie Long. Long then sent a through ball to the speedy Washington who ran on to it and went 1v1 with Clemson keeper Ashley Phillips. Washington slotted her shot perfectly and UNC was up 1-0 at 15:15.

Senior forward Jaime Gilbert scored her third goal of the season at 39:11 to give the Tar Heels some insurance. Meghan Klingenberg sent a pass from the wing to the box and Gilbert collided with a Clemson defender. Gilbert was able to win the ball and then sent the ball into the goal from four yards away.

Carolina finished off the scoring at 81:51 on junior forward Mandy Moraca¹s second goal of the season. Klingenberg sent a 60-yard pass over the defense that freshman forward Rachel Givan possessed and carried into the box. Givan then centered the ball to Moraca who poked it in from the eight yard line.

Wake Forest eliminates Duke in OT
For the eighth time this season, the 27th-ranked Duke Women's Soccer Team went into overtime against an opponent, but the Blue Devils allowed a golden goal with a little more than four minutes remaining in the first overtime to 11th-ranked Wake Forest falling, 1-0, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship. The Blue Devils dropped to 8-5-6 overall on the season, while the Demon Deacons improved to 12-5-3.

In the first half, Wake Forest controlled most of the first 45 minutes as the Demon Deacons outshot the Blue Devils 7-3, but neither team could find the back of the net. Taking attempts for Duke were Elisabeth Redmond, Rebecca Allen and Lorraine Quinn. In goal for the Blue Devils, senior Allison Lipsher posted three key saves in the first stanza.
Duke came out in the second half and put more pressure on Wake Forest as the Blue Devils outshot the Demon Deacons, 7-5. Redmond, who is a sophomore from Morristown, N.J., attempted four shots for Duke, while CJ Ludemann, Christie McDonald and Quinn fired one each.

For the eighth time this season, a match for the Blue Devils went to overtime as both teams finished the 90 minutes of regulation with a 0-0 score.
Both teams traded shots in the overtime as Redmond took the first attempt that went wide. Maggie Horne for Wake Forest came right back with a shot of her own that Lipsher saved. Ludemann responded with an attempt that Demon Deacon goalkeeper Amanda Barasha corralled. Horne battled back and took her second shot of the overtime period that went wide.

In Duke's best scoring opportunity of the overtime, sophomore KayAnne Gummersall had a right-footed shot from 17 yards that Barasha saved in the 94th minute. Just a little more than a minute later, Wake Forest drove down the field. Sarah Winslow and Samantha Germano found Kaley Fountain at the top left corner of the box where she dribbled in a little and blasted the game-winner over the head of Lipsher at the 95:37 mark.

Virginia beats Miami on penalties
The 10th ranked Virginia women’s soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament with a 4-2 penalty kick shootout victory following a scoreless draw with Miami. The Cavaliers, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, will meet top seeded North Carolina on Friday.

“We are obviously pleased to move on, but we are disappointed to have not gotten a result before having to go to kicks,” said head coach Steve Swanson. “We created enough chances to win the game, but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Give Miami credit, they are well organized and hard to break down.”

Virginia (11-3-5) had the better of play throughout the game, outshooting Miami (9-6-5) 23-4 and having a 13-3 corner kick advantage. However, with neither team able to score in the 110 minutes of play, the teams went to penalty kicks.

In the shootout, Miami took an early advantage as Hurricane keeper Lauren McAdam saved the first shot. The Cavaliers scored on their next kick by Caitlin Miskel (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Chantel Jones (Midlothian, Va.) saved Miami’s second attempt to even the shootout after two rounds. Jen Redmond (Morristown, N.J.) and Alli Fries (Dublin, Ohio) each scored on their kicks for UVa before Jones made another save in round four to give Virginia a 3-2 lead. Nikki Krzysik (Clifton, N.J.) followed by making her attempt in the fifth round to clinch the match for the Cavaliers.

Florida State defeats Boston College 1-0
Third seeded Florida State (12-4-3) advanced to the semifinals of the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship with a 1-0 victory over the sixth seeded Boston College Eagles (11-5-3) on a cold and windy night at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. Junior Katrin Schmidt found a great time to notch her first goal of the season scoring on a pass from Mami Yamaguchi in the 72nd minute. The Seminole have now won three straight first round games in the ACC Tournament, while running their all-time record to 5-6-2 in the first round.

It was the second time this season that FSU defeated BC 1-0, downing the Eagles in Tallahassee earlier in the year. With the win, FSU remained unbeaten against Boston College in five previous meetings. The Seminoles also have not allowed the Eagles to score in the series, a span covering 490 scoreless minutes.

The goal pushed Florida State consecutive scoring streak to 25 straight games.

Florida State will face Wake Forest in the semifinal on Friday evening.


SEC: South Carolina upsets Tennessee
The University of Tennessee women’s soccer team saw its Southeastern Conference Tournament bid end early on Wednesday evening, falling to sixth-seeded South Carolina, 2-0, in the first round. The loss is the Lady Vols’ first in the opening round of the tournament since 2001.

“First, congratulations to South Carolina,” UT Head Coach Angela Kelly. “They scored two great goals. They played very well and gave a great effort.”

The Gamecocks got on the board with the eventual game-winner just nine minutes into the first half. After receiving a pass into the box from sophomore midfielder Shannon Bigbie, senior forward Darcel Mollon beat UT junior keeper Jaimel Johnson one-on-one from eight yards.

In the first half, both teams had several scoring opportunities. Within five minutes after the goal, South Carolina had two excellent chances including a shot from senior midfielder Ashley Kirk that forced a diving save from Johnson. The Lady Vols posted five shots, putting two on goal in the first half.

The Gamecocks notched their second goal in the 78th minute on a free kick deep in Tennessee’s defensive end. Junior defender Brittiny Rhoades took the kick for South Carolina, putting it into the box, where junior midfielder Mary Worthen got a head on it, putting it away for the 2-0 lead.

Florida gets shutout win over Kentucky
The No. 21 University of Florida soccer team
(14-4-2, 9-2 SEC) opened Southeastern Conference Tournament play Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Kentucky (10-7-3, 4-6-1 SEC) at the Orange Beach SportsPlex. The win is the 10th consecutive for the Gators, which is the longest winning stretch since the Gators strung together 11-straight wins in the later portion of the 2001 season. During this current stretch, Florida has turned in nine shutouts.

These two teams met last year on this field for the SEC Tournament final, with the Wildcats taking the 2-1 win for UK’s second SEC Tournament title and first since 1995. With Wednesday’s win, Florida now owns a 4-1 advantage over UK in SEC Tournament play.

Florida scored within the first eight minutes of the match, which UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh credited as a key in the match.

“I think it was really important because when we played Kentucky in the past, they have been really organized defensively. If you don’t score that first goal early, it is really difficult to score on them. I think we were fortunate to score early, which made them come out and play at little bit more and not be able to low pressure as much - that really helped us,” Burleigh said. “If we hadn’t have gotten that early goal, I think it would have been a long evening.”

Florida turned in three goals in the opening half, two from senior Stacy Bishop. UF’s scoring began when Florida was awarded two consecutive corner kicks early in the opening half. On the second corner, the ball was popped up and the Gators took a couple of tries at the goal. But it was Bishop, receiving the ball from Karly Findorff located at the left post, who scored on a shot from near the penalty kick spot at 7:45.

Bishop finished UF’s first-half scoring when Ashlee Elliott, from the top of the 18-yard box circle, served the ball ahead to Bishop in the box. Bishop’s right-footed flick from seven yards was her second goal of the match. It is the second multi-goal match of the season for Bishop and the fourth of her two-year Gator career. Bishop now leads the Gators with nine goals this season.

Bishop credited the play of her teammates for both of her goals Wednesday.

“Karly did a good job keeping the ball alive. It came out to my feet and basically I just had to tap it in,” Bishop said about the first goal. “(On the second goal) I made a run across the box and called her and Ashlee played a perfect ball. All I had to do is flick it on.”

A heads-up play by senior KeLeigh Hudson gave Florida its second goal. Shana Hudson served up a 30-yard ball from the right touchline to the far post. The Kentucky defenders seemed to stop on the play, perhaps believing the ball was going to harmlessly roll out the endline. But KeLeigh Hudson was able to collect the ball before it rolled out of play. She took a couple of touches and scored on a short shot. The goal pushes her season goals total to eight.

That goal was a bit of a surprise for Burleigh.

“It was a really odd goal. I thought the ball was going out of bounds, but KeLeigh was able to stay on the end of it and she was able to sneak it in near post,” Burleigh said. “It was a pretty good effort on her part.”

Senior Bianca Gibbs scored Florida’s final goal at 89:09. Sophomore Angela Napolitano played a ball which found Gibbs in stride. She beat a pair of Wildcat defenders to hit the five-yard shot for her third goal of the season.

Georgia beats Mississippi
The No. 13-ranked University of Georgia women’s soccer team (16-2-2) defeated Ole Miss (7-8-5) in the opening round of the 2007 SEC Soccer Tournament by a 2-0 score Wednesday in Orange Beach, Ala. The win marks the Bulldogs’ first SEC Tournament victory since 2003 and sets and new program record for total wins in a season with 16. the game-winner came off the head of junior defender Megan Tomlinson (Atlanta, Ga.) in the 43rd minute of play.

“We beat a very good Ole Miss team today and I was pleased with the result,” said head coach Patrick Baker. “Our defense was strong, the midfield was busy and our forwards did a good job when they needed too. We didn’t play our best soccer today, but a dear friend told me when you are in tournament play, it’s all about advancing. Once we went up 2-0, we started to rotate fresh legs in and were able to get some players some valuable rest for Friday. Both center backs scoring for us was a big plus.”

Tomlinson lived up to her billing as a First-Team All-SEC selection as she scored her third goal of the year and became the 10th different Bulldog to score the game-winning goal in UGA’s 16 victories. The goal was Tomlinson’s second head-ball goal of the season and the fourth time in her career she has scored on a header off of a corner kick. The corner was taken by freshman midfielder Traci Dreesen (Lakewood, Colo.), marking her second assist on the season.

“Traci played a great ball in and I happened to be in the right place at the right time,” said Tomlinson. “The service from Traci was very good. Overall I don’t think we played our best today but we came out and battled hard, and we looked better in the second half. We knew we had to win this game and we probably had to put two or three goals on the board. We knew Ole Miss would play very direct. I think our preparation going into this game really helped us and we came out and executed what we needed to.”

Just over 10 minutes in to the second half, Georgia struck again as redshirt freshman defender Danielle Abelson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) took a free kick from just over midfield. Abelson’s strike came from approximately 50 yards out, but with the wind at her back, she launched it toward the net. Freshman midfielder Caroline Simpson made a run into the box and screened Ole Miss goalkeeper Ann Shelton, allowing the ball to bounce untouched into the back of the net. Abelson’s goal is her second of the year, as her first also came on a long-range strike and was the game-winner in the Dogs’ 1-0 victory at Arkansas earlier this year. Abelson was named to the 2007 All-SEC Freshman Team Tuesday.


Big 12 Quarterfinal: Missouri 4, Texas Tech 3
Missouri knocked off No. 5 Texas Tech, 4-3, in the second double overtime match of the day to advance to the Big 12 Championship semifinals at Blossom Soccer Stadium.

The game got off to a quick start when Tech’s Zhaleh Rezai scored off a rebounded shot to give the Red Raiders a 1-0 advantage in the fifth minute. Missouri quickly erased the deficit in the 13th minute when Mo Redmond sent a cross to Kristin Andrighetto who fired the ball just past the hands of Tech’s Tina Rincon.

The Tigers went on to take the lead 2-1 after Tech accidentally headed a ball into their own goal in the 42nd minute. Big 12 Rookie of the Year Alysha Bonnick helped the Tigers extend the lead just into the second half when she broke away from Tech’s defenders to put the ball into the net.

Texas Tech, in their first Big 12 Championship match since 1999, evened out the score by netting two quick goals in just 23 seconds in the 83rd minute sending the game to overtime.

Neither team could find the back of the net until the second set of extra minutes when Missouri’s Kristin Andrighetto connected on a ball sent from Alysha Bonnick to give the Tigers the win.

Missouri will face No. 1 seed Texas A&M on Friday in the Big 12 Championship semifinals at 5:30 p.m.

Big 12: Aggies dodge upset bullet with PK win
Freshman goalkeeper Kelly Dyer made the stop necessary for the 2nd-ranked Texas A&M soccer team to advance 8-7 on penalty kicks to the semifinal round of the 2007 Big 12 Soccer Championship at the Blossom Soccer Stadium.

“This was a hard game, we knew Iowa State was going to come in and play with their hands and be very physical,” A&M head coach G Guerrieri said. “They keep you from getting any athletic advantage you might have, that is just the way they play. We were in control for the whole game and just happen to make one mistake on defense and they made us pay.”

A&M (16-2-2) was able to make good on each of its eight shots while Iowa State (12-1-2) managed to post seven. Senior Elisabeth Jones sealed the Aggies’ trip to the semis converting her kick after Amanda Nimtz had her shot beaten away by Dyer. Dyer replaced Kristin Arnold in goal just before Nimtz’s PK.

“I am really proud of Kelly Dyer, coming in and saving the penalty kick, and all of our shooters because we made every one of our shots and we made them comfortably,” Guerrieri noted.


Big 12: Oklahoma State defeats Kansas 3-0
Oklahoma State’s netted three quick goals in a four-minute span to defeat No. 3 seed Kansas, 3-0, Friday night at the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals.


Junior Yolanda Odenyo kicked off the Cowgirls offensive spurt scoring from outside the penalty box off a failed Jayhawk clear. Strawser then recorded back-to-back goals within two minutes of each other to give OSU the 3-0 lead.


Both teams were held scoreless for the rest of the match giving OSU the win. The Cowgirls will face the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship semifinals Friday, Nov. 9 at 7:30.