Terriers Convert on Penalty Kicks to Advance to Conference Final
By Kat Castner
(Annapolis, Md. – Nov. 8, 2013)– Not many sports teams can say that they finished their season without conceding a goal in their last two games of the year but the Colgate women’s soccer team can.
Despite a devastating loss Friday night on penalty kicks to the No. 25 team in the nation, Boston University, the Raiders have a lot to be proud of this season. They qualified for a league-high 21st Patriot League Tournament, six different players had at least six points throughout the course of the year, rookie Brenna Mason pitched five shutouts on the season while the Raiders blanked nine opponents and lastly Colgate has shut out four consecutive opponents in the tournament.
The Raiders battled to an overtime draw with Bucknell on Tuesday night in which they advanced to Friday’s semifinal thanks to five made penalty kicks. Unfortunately, Colgate couldn’t strike twice in one week as the Terriers advanced to Sunday’s PL Championship game following a 4-1-penalty kick victory.
“I am so incredibly proud of this team,” Colgate head coach Kathy Brawn said. “They battled every step of the way – not just tonight, but throughout the season.”
Colgate’s (10-6-3) defense, which was led by Mason who made a career-high 10 saves in the loss, kept their nationally ranked opponent out of the net. SophomoresTaryn Tomczyk, Jenna Panepinto and Catherine Williams all lead the Raiders with at least one shot in the contest.
Boston U. (13-3-4) notched 13 corner kicks to the Raiders two but was unable to find the net as the Colgate defense held strong. Seniors Emma Clark, Kylie Strom, Megan McGoldrich and Madison Clemens all converted on their penalty kick opportunities to keep their season going for at least another two days.
The Raiders stood tall from the opening whistle as Chelsea Roche came up with a big block on a McKenzie Hollenbaugh shot in the first 10 minutes of action.
A few minutes later BU collected a loose ball and sent it over to Taylor Krebs, who was wide open on the back post. Her driven shot inside the 18-yard box forced Mason to make a brilliant goal saving stop by pushing it aside and out for a corner kick.
With less than 20 minutes to play in the half, the Raiders tallied their first real good chance on net when Manoogian tried to slide the ball in behind the Terriers back four to a running Panepinto. The BU defense was able to just get its foot on the pass before Panepinto could take advantage of the chance.
Colgate was on the attack again five minutes later when captain and recently named All-League First Team and All-Academic Team member Caroline Brawner one-touch volleyed the ball over a Terriers defender from a throw in. The junior flicked it on for Williams, who beat her defender before striking one on net inside the 18. BU came diving in, however, to deflect the ball away from goal.
Early in the second 45 minutes, Tomczyk sent a perfectly placed ball to the head of Williams. Williams tried to redirect it but it sailed just wide of the goal.
Colgate had another good chance off a Kelsey Hough corner kick opportunity. Jenna Gibney almost put away the low driven kick but the Terriers cleared it out of danger before she could do any damage.
BU recorded a good chance of its own with less than 19 minutes to play in regulation. Following a strong corner kick from Clark, Kai Miller found it with her head but the junior’s attempt sailed high over the goal.
A few minutes later off another solid Terriers corner kick, Jamie Turchi almost netted the game’s first goal when she fired a shot after a scramble in front of the net. Colgate cleared her shot off the goal line, however, to keep the game scoreless.
In the final minutes of regulation Mason showed her true ability when she came up with two huge saves on Erica Kosienski shots. The first one was on a shot from the top of the box. The rookie jumped up to push the attempt over the crossbar and out for a corner kick. The second stellar save happened when Kosienski found herself wide open with the ball inside the box. The freshman saw an opening and fired a shot but again Mason push it aside, not conceding a goal.
Following a scoreless 90 minutes of action the game was forced to overtime. Neither team was able to net a goal in the extra 20 minutes causing the match to be decided with penalty kicks.
After 220 minutes of work in a three day span the Raiders’ legs were a little heavy as BU converted on all four of their chances while Colgate went 1-for-3.
The Raiders closed out their year recording another winning season standing with an overall record of 10-6-3 and 6-2-1 in conference play.