ALLENDALE, MICH. – The third time proved to be the charm as the University of Missouri-St. Louis women's soccer team defeated No. 12 ranked Rockhurst, 1-0, in double overtime Friday afternoon in first round action of the NCAA Division II Tournament Championship, in a game played on the campus of Grand Valley State.
Senior
Miriam Taylor sent the Tritons to victory, avenging two losses to the Hawks earlier this season, with her game-winner in the 102
nd minute of play.
Freshman
Ally Milnes sent a long pass up field to Taylor who got in front of two defenders and shot the ball past Hawks keeper Alli Wallner to the right corner pocket.
"That's the ball I wanted," said Taylor. "It was the exact play that I love and that I've executed many times before, so when Ally passed the ball up I could just feel it. And then when I looked up and saw the keeper coming out, I knew I had a great shot to the right side."
Taylor's heroics came after a missed shot by the forward in the final minute of the first overtime that would have ended the game then. Fellow senior
Kayla Delgado passed it from the near sideline to Taylor, who was alone in the box, but her soft touch went high as Wallner was coming out.
"After I missed that shot, I was down on myself for a minute or two, but I knew in my head that I had to stay positive," she said. "My teammates and coaches all told me I could do it and had the confidence in me to go back out there and luckily it all worked out."
UMSL, now 13-4-1 overall, advances to Sunday's regional semifinal against host and No. 2 ranked Grand Valley State, the three-time defending NCAA DII champion, at 1 p.m. (EST). The win was just the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament victory and the first since the 1982 team defeated Harvard, 2-1.
Rockhurst, which defeated UMSL by identical scores of 1-0 during the GLVC regular season in St. Louis on September 23 and just last Friday in the GLVC Tournament semifinals, ends its season with a 17-3-2 record.
"We stuck to the game plan today and it was a total team effort," said third year head coach
Wendy Dillinger. "We worked all week on not letting Rockhurst get behind us because that's how they beat us the last two times and from an attacking standpoint, we changed up our formation and how we wanted to go after them and that gave us a lot of good looks in the game.
"It was exciting to see Miriam get that goal. She is one of those players that you give her an inch and she'll take it. She's a good finisher."
Rockhurst finished the game with a 22-15 advantage in shots, while both teams placed seven shots on goal. Freshman keeper
Emily Rish made a career-high seven saves, while the defense in front of her blocked several others.
Rish made two big saves late in the first half to keep the game scoreless, as Mia Zanaboni tried to go one-on-one with the Tritons keeper. Rish stopped the first shot from point blank range before knocking down the deflection shot.
"When I saw her coming towards me I knew I couldn't let it go in," said Rish. "And after I made that first stop, I had to get right back up and stop that second one. Both were just good reaction saves."
Rish made four of her saves in the first half, in which Rockhurst outshot the Tritons, 12-5.
UMSL controlled possession early on despite going in to the wind and took the first shot of the game from sophomore
McKayla Harder two minutes and 36 seconds in. Taylor got a good look a little over 10 minutes later, but her close shot was directed right at Hawks keeper Ali Wallner.
The next four and a half minutes then belonged to Rockhurst, who took three corners and seven shots during that time. However, the Tritons defense was there to block five of those. The Hawks' best attempt was a long shot that came off the food of Brandi Vollmer, but hit the crossbar.
Both teams also had opportunities in the second half. Harder shot from the right wing five minutes into that frame with some space, but couldn't get herself situated over the ball, which was sent over the goal.
Delgado then took a shot inside the box in the 55
th minute as Wallner came out, but a Rockhurst defender was there to stop it. Delgado also turned on a pass from senior
Amber Daly in the 82
nd minute that was saved, while the Hawks had a shot off the post in the 60
th minute and had a shot that went just wide of the far post in the closing minutes.
Delgado landed all four of her shots on goal, while Taylor finished with three shots on goal.
TRITON TIDBITS: The shutout was the fourth of the year for UMSL… the Tritons improve to 2-1-1 in overtime contests… it's 13 wins are the most since the 2003 team went 13-6-1… UMSL was making its second straight NCAA Tournament trip, with last year's team also playing in Allendale, Mich., and falling to Quincy, 1-0…. UMSL improves to 2-4 in NCAA games… the goal allowed by Rockhurst was just the 10
th this year.
