Nov. 1, 2006
Orange Beach, Ala. – After 110 minutes of action and with the score tied 1-1, the University of South Carolina women’s soccer team edged out Vanderbilt 4-3 in penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time in school history. The official match result is a tie with Carolina now 11-5-5 on the year while Vanderbilt is now 10-4-6. Carolina will face the top seeded Florida Gators on Friday evening (November 3) at 8:30 pm ET (7:30 pm CT). Live audio broadcast and live stats will be available at uscsports.com.
“Our players dug deep in this match,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “We didn’t play well in the first half and Vanderbilt played well. They were passing the ball, moving the ball and really had us on the defensive. We didn’t have a ton of chances to start the game. The players battled back, really stepped up the pressure and caused more turnovers in the second half. This was a critical game and it was fitting that it came down to penalty kicks. Both teams could have finished it off in regulation and overtime but the ball didn’t bounce that way.”
The penalty kick shootout would open with up Carolina goalkeeper Laura Armstrong making a big first save on the first kick from Vanderbilt’s Amy Baumann. Armstrong would then score the first goal of the penalty kick shootout to put USC on top 1-0. Both teams would then trade goals on the next three ties with Carolina’s Ashley Kirk, Kim Miller and Kimmy Gillespie all scoring for the Gamecocks. With a 4-3 edge, Armstrong would come up with her second save of the PK shootout to advance the Gamecocks past the Commodores.
“It was an unbelievable performance by Laura Armstrong,” said Coach Smith. “Vanderbilt had great chances and Laura was huge in goal tonight. That’s been a big difference for us all year. We always said that keepers need to be a big part of the win because you need those big couple saves to keep you in a game. That was a difference tonight. Plus, coming up to stop the first shot in pk’s and scoring the first goal of the penalty kick shutout. She was our MVP tonight. We knew it could come down to pk’s, we did train for it. You just hope you can do it under the pressure.”
The first 110 minutes before the shootout was not without its own drama though with the Commodores going ahead first early in the match at the 6:42 mark on a goal from Lea Lafield. A misclear by the Gamecock defenders allowed the Commodores’ midfielder Amy Baumann an opportunity to slip a cross to Lafield, who drilled in a goal from just outside the six-yard box.
The match would be knotted up at one apiece on an own goal by Vanderbilt as a shot by Carolina forward Samantha Diaz-Matosas went off the foot of a VU defender and into the Commodores net past Vandy keeper Tyler Griffin. The seesaw affair would have more drama in the second half with both teams hitting the crossbar including USC midfielder Ashley Kirk who knocked a 30 yard shot over Vanderbilt goalkeeper Tyler Griffin that knocked the top bar.
Both teams could have chances in both overtime periods as Vandy had a 2-1 edge in the first overtime with Carolina’s Mary Worthen almost scoring the game-winner in the second overtime with a shot from three yards out off a corner kick by Kim Miller, only to be denied by Tyler Griffin of the Commodores.
