Stephen F. Austin
UTSA
Ladyjacks Fall In Shootout
11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2010
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SAN MARCOS, Texas - For the third time in as many years, Stephen F. Austin's postseason hopes came down to a shootout. And for the third straight time, the Ladyjacks came up one goal short. SFA tied, 1-1 in double-overtime, against UTSA Friday night in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament, and the Roadrunners advanced to the championship game with a 5-4 win in the decisive shootout.
The second-seeded Ladyjacks end their season at 13-5-2, while No. 3 UTSA (12-7-2) moves on to meet the winner of Friday's late game between No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana and fourth-seeded tournament host Texas State.
Each team delivered on its first two attempts in the shootout with SFA's Jordan King and Melissa Gaudet connecting. The Roadrunners found the net on their third shot, but UTSA goalkeeper Dacia Webb guessed correctly on Laura Sadler's shot toward the lower right corner and knocked the ball away to give the 'Runners a 3-2 edge.
Ladyjack freshman goalkeeper Lacey Lee then responded by stoning Anka Grotle's shot on UTSA's next attempt, and Jordyn Young evened the count at three apiece with a shot into the upper right corner. Camille Royer connected on SFA's next attempt to keep pace with the Roadrunners, then UTSA pulled ahead, 5-4, when Valentina Lefort snuck a low shot to the right with Lee guessing left.
Edwina Forbes lined up the next attempt for SFA and drilled a waist-high shot toward the right side, but Webb dove and knocked it away, giving UTSA the shootout victory and advancing the Roadrunners to the championship.
"You ask them to step up and take a confident penalty," SFA head coach Tony Amato said. "We practice it, we work on it, we talk about it, but that's all you can really ask is that they step up and hit it with confidence. And I think we did that; they just stopped two of ours and we stopped one of theirs.
"For the season to come down to penalties with a freshman goalkeeper is tough, but Lacey did well. She did what you have to do there. She guessed and kept us in it by guessing right on the one she stopped."
Lee (3-1-1) played 110 minutes in her fourth start of the season, recording three saves with one goal allowed.
The Roadrunner goal came in the 44th minute, when Jodi Leroy rebounded a blocked shot and booted it in. It was just the second UTSA shot on goal to that point.
SFA tied the score with a goal at the buzzer, barely a minute-forty later. After a corner kick service by Royer, three different Ladyjacks got a foot on the ball, before the rebound settled in front of Kim Kimmel. She got a shot off that bounced off a defender and rolled across the end line just before time expired. It was her eighth goal of the season, tying her with King for the most on the team.
The teams played the final 45 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes without finding the net. SFA put three shots on goal to one for UTSA in the second half and each team recorded a shot on goal in the overtimes. SFA finished with a 7-3 edge in shots on target, despite an overall shots advantage of 18-16 in UTSA's favor.
SFA scored twice in the first five minutes of the Ladyjacks' 2-0 win over UTSA in last weekend's regular-season finale. On Friday, though, the teams combined for 34 fouls and two yellow cards.
"It was a more physical game from when we played them on Sunday," Amato said. "They definitely had a lot of energy and a lot of team spirit, and that showed in the first half. They had a little more bite to their tackles and won a lot of 50-50 balls. They were definitely more physical than they were last week; I think that was the major difference."
The Ladyjacks saw their season end in the Southland Tournament semifinals for the second straight year, and closed out the campaign in a shootout for the third straight season. Southeastern Louisiana advanced in a shootout following a scoreless tie through two overtimes in the semifinals of last season's tournament. The Lions posted an identical result in the opening round of the 2008 tournament.
-- SFA --
