(Story courtesy of Southwestern University)
GEORGETOWN, Texas - The top two seeds, No. 1 Trinity University and No. 2 University of Dallas, advanced to the 2012 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship game with semifinal victories on Saturday night. Bracket | Official Website
No. 1 Trinity vs. No. 4 Austin College Semifinal
It took just two and a half minutes for the Tigers to take control of the match. A tackle in the box resulted in a penalty kick for Trinity. Taken by Katy Lipscomb, the ball sailed just over the outstretched hands of Franchesca Lozoya and under the crossbar to give TU a 1-0 lead early. Box Score
A second penalty kick gave Trinity their second goal 15 minutes in. Shelby Guenthardt wasted no time putting the ball away after being awarded the penalty kick and placed the ball effortlessly into the upper ninety.
Trinity controlled the half, rarely allowing the ball to enter the defensive third of the field and never testing Katie Garrett in goal as the Tigers held Austin College to zero shots in the frame. Just before the half came to a close TU made it a 3-0 lead as Samantha Atkins punched the ball home after a defensive reflection. Trinity ended the half with 10 shots and six corners and giving the ‘Roos zero in both categories.
A cold front pushed across the field over halftime and the Tigers’ scoring cooled off as well early on. Despite some well-executed attacks that resulted in great shots on goal, Lozoya was there to make the save and keep the game close.
That was until Stephanie Segovia made it a four goal lead for the Tigers, putting away a ball that was bouncing around in the box. Samantha Atkins made it a 5-0 lead for Trinity with a goal with just over 17 minutes to play.
With some great teamwork, Trinity pushed their lead to six. Guenthardt found Atkins who passed to Kelsey Falcone who was wide open 10 yards from goal and placed the ball into the back of the net and Guenthardt added one of her own just minutes later to arrive at the 7-0 final.
Trinity led 21-1 in the shot count and 9-1 in corner kicks. Atkins and Grenthardt led with five points each on the evening for Trinity.
The Tigers improve to 13-1-2 on the year and advance to the championship match on Sunday. They will face the winner of the Southwestern/Dallas game to take place at 7:30 p.m. Austin College closes the year at 6-12-2 overall.
No. 2 Dallas vs. No. 3 Southwestern University Semfinal
Three goals in the final 17 minutes of the first half set the University of Dallas up for a 4-0 win over Southwestern in the second semifinal Saturday night. Box Score
The match opened with a fury of activity as both teams aggressively attacked goal. Claire Matthews got a great look with a header six yards in front of the mouth of the goal. Her shot went right at Brigid Hasson who made the easy save to keep the game scoreless.
The University of Dallas was the first on the scoreboard with under 17 minutes to play in the half. Nicole Johnson drilled a shot from 30 yards out that was saved with a beautiful diving save from Sarah Nonaka. Nonaka punched the ball out of harm's way but found Marin Chambers to the right of the goal. Chambers collected the ball and played a lofting ball into the box to Rebecca Brunter who headed it home to give UD a 1-0 lead.
Dallas made it a 2-0 lead as Melissa Carpenter took a corner kick with 12 minutes on the clock. Her big corner drifted above all the players and into the far side netting for the second goal of the game.
Chambers scored a goal of her own with six minutes to play, fighting through the SU defense to get a look at goal and slid the ball past Nonaka. The half would come to a close with the Pirates trailing 3-0.
Southwestern came out of halftime with renewed vigor and ready to take down the deficit. Free kicks deep in Crusader territory gave Southwestern the looks they needed to chip away at the lead, but they weren't able to find the back of the net.
Dallas pushed their lead to four as Chambers posted her second assist of the night. Her through ball up the middle found Nicole Johnson in stride who was able to one-touch the ball into the back of the net.
Southwestern trailed 17-10 in shots and 3-2 in corner kicks. Nonaka posted seven saves on the evening while Hasson posted five.
The Pirates end the season at 6-11-2 overall while Dallas improves to 12-7-1 on the year. They advance to the conference championship to face Trinity on Sunday at 1 p.m.
