Nov. 16, 2003

Final Stats

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - In the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 16th, at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., the 15th ranked Villanova women's soccer team played #10 Virginia to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtimes, but defeated the Cavaliers 4-2 on penalty kicks to advance to the "Sweet 16". It is the first time in school history that Villanova (15-5-4) advanced to the Sweet 16.

"This team just continues to amaze me," said head coach Ann Clifton. "They just continue to show the fortitude to push through. The Big East Championship. A Sweet 16. These are just all team goals of ours that we want to make a standard of excellence for Villanova. It's a dream."

The contest was evenly matched early on with the first shot not coming until nearly 15 minutes into the contest on a header by Virginia's Kelly Hammond.

The Cavaliers' offense gained momentum as the half went on, however. A hard shot by Hammond at the 20-minute mark went sailing towards the net but was blocked by Wildcat All-American defender Michelle Biehl keeping the match scoreless. Virginia had several more good but unsuccessful chances in the half's first 25 minutes, during which time the Cavaliers out-shot the Wildcats 5-0.

Villanova finally had its first shot with 14:48 remaining in the half, but a Candice MacDonald shot went wide of the net for the `Cats.

Virginia (12-5-4) made two consecutive runs at the net in the 34th minute, both nearly resulting in Cavalier goals. The first opportunity came on a header by Ariel Thompson off a cross that went just wide. With 12:30 left in the half, Virginia got a header from Lindsey Gusick that was popped up towards the net but knocked away for a save by Wildcat goalkeeper Chrissy Dolan. Kara Frederick got the rebound, but had her shot blocked by a Villanova defender.

The Wildcats' luck nearly ran out in the 40th minute, but a blast by Virginia's Jamie Fabrizio clipped the post deflecting wide.

The contest would go into intermission scoreless, with the Cavaliers out-shooting Villanova 10-2. The Wildcat defense bent but would not break, staging off a number of Virginia offensive rallies.

With 8:35 gone in the second half, Villanova got its best offensive chance when MacDonald found a streaking Lindsey Finnegan ahead of the Cavalier defense. Finnegan's shot went just high of the Virginia net to keep the game scoreless.

At the 57:50 mark, Dolan made a phenominal save for the Wildcats diving for a shot by Hammond to stop a Cavalier scoring opportunity.

Villanova made one last run with 15:30 remaining in regulation. A shot by Macdonald going low and hard at the left of the goal was stopped by way of an Anne Abernethy diving save. The game would go into overtime scoreless, as neither team was able to find the net down the stretch.

In the first overtime, a kick by Thompson with 550 left went just high for the Cavaliers. Virginia's Sarah Lane had one last shot with 10 seconds let in the first overtime but her shot hit the post sending the match into a second extra session.

Villanova would go on to possess the ball most of the second overtime period, but the outcome would be the same as that of the first overtime - with neither team able to record the game's first goal.

The game thus went into a shootout - with each team attempting a series of five penalty kicks. The shootout was the Wildcats' third in the last four games.

Villanova kept up its shootout magic on Sunday. The Wildcats got goals from Finnegan, Valerie Grow and Laura Johnson and two saves by Dolan to take a 3-2 lead in PK's. The `Cats had the chance to win it on their next kick, and sophomore Kelly Breslin did just that blasting a shot past Abernethy to give Villanova the game.

"I tried not to think of it being a game-winning opportunity," said Kelly Breslin about her game-winning PK. "Its just puts pressure on me. I knew I needed to bring it, so I went up with confidence. We practice it. I knew I could do it. The team knew we could do it. So I just went up there and did it."

"Going through this twice in the Big East made us more confident going into PK's today," said Villanova goalkeeper Chrissy Dolan. "I have confidence in our shooters. So I just wanted to come up with one save because I knew our shooters would take care of the rest."

"We never stopped fighting today," said Wildcat forward Laura Johnson. "We always gave that second effort. It was a battle out there and we hung in it. The team got this game to where we needed to get it and we did the job."

Villanova will now take on BYU in the next round of the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats will be the host team for the NCAA Third Round, as they take on the Cougars on Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Villanova Soccer Complex with the starting time scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

Penalty Kicks (VU wins on PK's 4-2):
Uva - Lane, good (1-0)
VU - Finnegan, good (1-1)
Uva - Hatch, saved (1-1)
VU - Grow, good (2-1)
Uva - Huffman, good (2-2)
VU - Johnson, good (3-2)
Uva - Bunch, saved (3-2)
VU - Breslin, good (4-2)