(Stories courtesy of Trinity University and Emory University)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The host Trinity Tigers advanced to the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship second round with a 5-2 victory over the St. Scholastica Saints on Saturday night.
Trinity (21-0-0), playing in its 17th NCAA Tournament, will take on defending national champion Hardin-Simmons at 5 p.m. Sunday in the second round. The Cowgirls (20-1-0) shut out Texas-Dallas 3-0 later in the night. St. Scholastica, in its fourth NCAA event, finished the season with a 16-5-1 mark.
The first half was tightly played, with the Tigers leading the Saints 3-2.
Trinity's Abby Loar scored the first of two goals, with a solo shot just three minutes into the game. Hannah Kuhl made it 2-0 Tigers in the 12th minute, as Emily Jorgens recorded the first of her two assists.
But the Saints Kelsey Kehtel scored unassisted goals in the 14th and 32 minutes, tying the game 2-2. Trinity's Kirby Peddicord put one past the keeper just 56 seconds later, assisted by Jorgens (her 12th assist of the the campaign), and the Tigers took a 3-2 lead going into halftime.
Trinity's Shelby Guenthardt and Shelby Hopkins combined for a scoring play in the 62nd minute to make it 4-2, then Loar finished the scoring (in the 76th minute) with her 20th goal of the season, on an assist by Samantha Atkins.
Loar is Trinity's all-time scoring and points leader, with 57 goals, 34 assists, and 148 total points.
Trinity led St. Scholastica 35-3 in total shots, and 21-2 on the mark. The Saints starting keeper, Bailey Mahlum, played for 80 minutes, yielded five goals, but registered 15 saves. Trinity's starting goalkeeper was Katie Garrett, followed in the second half by Devan Osegueda.
Sunday's game will be a rematch of a Sept. 3 contest at Trinity, as the Tigers edged the Cowgirls 3-2 in double-overtime. Hardin-Simmons was 2-1 winner over Trinity in last year's NCAA second round.
ATLANTA, Ga. - After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer and seven rounds of a shootout could not decide an advancing team, Centre College's Kelli Lenz made a save on a penalty kick, and Katie Stevenson knocked in a clinching penalty kick of her own, allowing to the Colonels advance past Roanoke College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Box Score
The two teams played to a scoreless tie after a defensive battle through 110 minutes of play. Centre finished the match with edges in both total shots (13-9) and shots on goal (5-4), but the match remained tied at the end of play.
After neither team was able to find the back of the net during the course of the game, the shootout proved to be a different story. Neither team missed a shot through the first seven rounds, evening the score at 7-7. However, Roanoke's Candace Connolly's shootout attempt was saved by Lenz to end the streak, and Stevenson was able to capitalize on the next attempt.
The best chance for either team to score during the match came in the first overtime, when Roanoke's Claiborne Willis came open inside the box and took a shot past the outstretched arms of the Centre keeper, but found the post instead of the back of the net.
Lenz made four saves during the match, all of which came during the first half of play, while Roanoke's Carolyn Sarabacher made five saves in the game.
With the tie, Centre moved to 14-4-3 on the season, while Roanoke will end their 2011 campaign with a mark of 14-4-2.
Centre will advance to the second round of the NCAA Championships on Sunday at 5:00 PM, where they will face fifth-ranked Emory University.
