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NCAA women's tournament Seeded UConn, Brigham Young are upset in first round; Boston College advances.
Both games went to overtime, but before they were over, 12th-ranked Connecticut, one of four regional third seeds, and No. 17 Brigham Young, a fourth seed, saw their seasons end in the first round. Senior midfielder Ashley Chassar scored in a second and final sudden-death overtime period, sending visiting Boston University to a 1-0 decision over UConn at Morrone Field. Weber State eliminated BYU 4-3 in tiebreaking penalty kicks after playing a 1-1 draw. At UConn (15-5-2), BU gained possession in its attacking third early in the second overtime. Freshman midfielder Marisha Schumacher-Hodge passed back to freshman back Ashley LoCasale, who hit a terrific cross in the penalty area. Chassar dove through a pack of defenders and headed the ball past freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe inside the far post for the decisive tally. "Far post was all I could do in that situation, the way my body was angled," said Chassar, who scored her first goal since 2002. "I didn't even know who fed it to me." The Terriers (14-4-4) won their sixth straight game and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history. After starting 2-3, BU is 12-1-4 in its last 17 games. BU will face crosstown rival, No. 16 Boston College which edged Dartmouth 2-0 in the second game here. UConn, one of two schools, along with Notrh Carolina, to play in every NCAA tournament since the event began in 1982, lost in the first round for the first time since 1993. "We beat a real tough team tonight," Terriers coach Nancy Feldman said. "We just kept at it and finally broke through. Our team refused to give up tonight." Both teams had chances to win in regulation. The Terriers had a terrific opportunity in the early moments of the second half with senior striker Meliss Shulman, junior forward Lauren Erwin, senior defender Christina Kim and senior forward Meghann Cook all firing off shots in rapid succession. Shulman came the closest, but the Huskies defense cleared her shot before it went in. In the 78th minute, UConn freshman defender Katie Radchuck hit the left post with a shot while freshman attacker Jessica Diakun's rebound attempt was deflected over the end-line by Terriers sophomore keeper Christina Reuter. BU had one more opportunity with less than a minute remaining in regulatoin, but Cook's shot was stuffed by a charging Labbe to end the threat. The Huskies had the best scoring chance in the first half when freshman attacker Brittany Taylor found herself open in front of the goal in the 32nd minute. With Reuter out of her net, Taylor fired a shot which banged off the left post and was cleared. BU did not have any significant scoring chances in the opening 45 minutes. Each team had 15 shots with Reuter making seven saves and Labbe making four.
BC (12-5-2) opened the scoring in the 30th minute when Dane took a pass from Maurer and blasted a shot into the top right corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. Eight minutes later, Mauer sent a corner kick to Dane who touched it back to Mauer. She carried in and scored. "We played our hearts out," Big Green senior striker Christina Ferraris said. "We just made two mistakes, but I don't think our play was disappointing." Junior defender Colleen Kelly answered for Dartmouth when she netted a header off an assist from junior attacker Sarah Johnson with 40:27 elapsed. "They put more players in the midfield (in the second half) and they frustrated us so that we couldn't create chances," DU coach Angie Hind said. "It is a tough way to end the season, but I am proud of what we have done." BC held a 12-11 advantage in shots. DU sophomore keeper Amanada Webb and Eagles junior keeper Arianna Criscione each made four saves. Weber State 1, No. 17 Brigham Young 1 (Weber State advances 4-3 in penalty kicks) Arizona 1, Utah 0
Golar also made 11 saves during regulation and 20 minutes of overtime for Weber State which will will next face Arizona, a 1-0 winner over host Utah in the nightcap. The second-round match will be Saturday. Officially, the game was recorded as a draw and WSU has still never defeated the Cougars, now 0-8-1 all-time, including a 5-1 loss at BYU September 2. That was of little consolation to BYU. "Obviously, we're devastated," BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood said. "In our sport, more than any other, you can dominate a game, but the ball may not bounce your way. I don't say this very often, but we must be one of the unluckiest teams. We're extremely discouraged to end on a note like this." BYU outshot Weber State 22-13 and took 13 corner kicks to none for the Wildcats. Weber State (14-4-2) went ahead 1-0 with 12:47 elapsed after senior midfielder Rochelle Hoover sent a pass into the middle of the penalty area. Sarah Cortez, her marker having slipped, was wide open and buried her shot for her first goal of the season. The Cougars (15-2-4) equalized at 63:45. Junior midfielder Bobbi Tillotson sent a precise high-arching ball to the far side of the net to striker Jaime Rendich Beck who headed in the 12th goal of her senior season. "We had plenty of scoring opportunities," Rockwood said. "Sometimes the ball scores, sometimes it doesn't. I believe we did everything in our power to prepare for this game and the ball just didn't bounce our way." BYU's Natalie Nate and WSU' Erin Smith both converted in the first round of penalties, but Golar went to her right and saved Rendich Beck's knee-high shot in the second round. Wildcat Shaylee Stegen beat keeper Erika Woodbury to the left side and WSU was ahead 2-1 in the tiebreaker. The Cougars' Jessica Aquino and WSU's Hayley McCoy were both successful in the third round. Then, Golar saved Annie Zwahlen's attempt, but Woodbury kept BYU alive by stopping Lisa Crump. In the final round, Brooke Thulin converted, pulling BYU even at 3-3, but Hoover found the left corner of the net while Woodbury dove in the opposite direction to secure the Wildcats' advancement. "We firmly believed we would score that second goal (before heading to penalty kicks)," Rockwood said. "We all did. I feel sorry for all the girls who worked so hard and played so well this season. They deserved to end on a better note." In the second game, senior midfielder Mallory Miller's goal in the 30th minute was all Arizona needed to defeat Utah 1-0. Utah outshot the Wildcats 13-7 and had a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal, but closed its season at 14-7-1. Arizona climbed to 10-7-3. "We had some chances that didn't go our way, but we tried our best and it just didn't go our way tonight," Utah freshman forward Adele Letro said. Miller, who was named Pac-10 "Player of the Year" earlier in the day, took a pass from senior striker Kelly Nelson and fired a 10-yard shot from right to left, beating junior keeper Ashley Mason for the decisive tally. "I noticed their goalkeeper was playing off of her line tonight," Miller said. "I read that and decided to one-touch Kelly's (pass) into the corner and it worked." The Utes had a good scoring opportunity in the 72nd minute when junior Mckenzie Joyner sent a ball to Letro, who header was stopped by keeper McCall Smith. The sophomore native of Salt Lake City made seven saves for her eighth clean sheet of the season. "It was nice to play in front of my family and friends," Smith said, "The team worked very hard defensively tonight. The credit goes to the team. They made it pretty easy for me tonight." |
