William & Mary women defeat UCF in PKs, advance to College Cup second round
ORLANDO, Fla. (Via William & Mary) – The William & Mary women’s soccer team battled UCF to a scoreless draw, but advanced to the Second Round NCAA College Cup with a 3-1 victory in the penalty kick shootout. The match will results in a tie, puts the Tribe record at 14-4-3, while the Knights end the season at 12-6-2.
“I’m very proud of our effort tonight,” head coach John Daly said. “I thought we had the better of thing and came very closed on a few occasions, and Caroline was superb in the penalties.
UCF had the first chance of the night when Courtney O’Connell had a shot in the sixth minute. Her shot sailed wide right away from the goal. The Knights had another chance in the 13th minute when Hannah DeBose sent a header on that bounced wide of the frame.
William & Mary’s first chance of the match came off of a corner kick in the 16th minute. Senior Nicole Baxter sent the corner in and found the head of classmate Katie Johnston. The senior’s redirected header was saved by Vera Varis.
The remainder of the first half continued as a back-and-forth affair. Both teams finished the first stanza with five shots apiece, and both teams had a shot on-goal.
W&M had the first the two chances of the second half. Sophomore Sami Grass fired a shot in the 49th minute that was high. On a corner kick moments later, Baxter found junior Clara Logsdon, but Logsdon’s shot was blocked and cleared to safety.
The Knights nearly took the lead a 1-0 off of a corner kick, but the Tribe made a team save. Carol Rodrigues put a shot on frame of a redirected corner kick, but senior Barbara Platenberg cleared the ball off of the end line.
In the 76th minute, the Tribe was able to put a on target. Again off of a corner kick, the initial send in was deflected around the 18-yard box. The ball eventually ended up on the foot of Logsdon, and her shot was saved by Varis.
UCF again looked very threating off of a corner kick in the 78th minute. Again Rodrigues got on the end of the send in, but this time her shot was stopped by a diving senior goalkeeper Caroline Casey.
The Knights again kept their pressure up and had two more chances before the end of regulation. Katarina Naumanen had a ball roll to her feet, and she fired a shot that Casey made a leaping save on. Then in the 88th minute Courtney O’Connell pushed her shot high.
At the end of regulation the teams remained scoreless, but UCF held a slight 12-11 advantage in shots, which also included a 4-3 advantage in shots on-goal.
The Tribe had the first chance of the overtime period. Sophomore Rachel Moore turned a shot on target, but her shot was blocked by a Knight defender and cleared away. W&M’s second chance in the first overtime came in the 96th minute, senior Leci Irvin had her shot saved by Vera.
UCF had two first overtime chances , but were both off of frame. Saga Fredrikson pushed a shot wide, before Kayla Admeck had her shot blocked.
The Green and Gold was the most aggressive team in the second overtime and had a number of chances to win the match. The first came off of a corner kick that Johnston’s header was blocked on. In the 108th minute, Irvin turned a shot on frame, before Grasso did the same thing, but both shots ended in Versa saves.
With the match scoreless at the end of two overtimes, the match went to a best-of-penalty shootout. The Tribe won the match by converting three of its four penalty kicks, while Casey made two stops in goal on UCF PKs.
The Tribe finished the night with 17-15 advantage in shots, which included a 6-4 advantage in shots on-goal. Johnston fired a team-high four shots, while Irvin finished the match with three shots.
Casey finished the night with four saves, and recorded her 11th clean sheet of the season. It was her 30th career shutout, which moves into her to third place by herself all-time in that category. She has now recorded 296 career stops, which rank her second all-time, and is four saves away from become just the second player in school history to record 300 career saves.
The Green and Gold advance to the Second Round of the NCAA College Cup, and will head back down to the Sunshine State next weekend. The Tribe draws the No. 2-seed Florida Gators on Nov. 20. The winner of that game will take on the winner of No. 3-seeded Duke and Florida Gulf Coast in Gainesville on Sunday, Nov. 22. Times for those games have not been released yet.
