Box Score NEWBERRY – The No. 3 seeded Newberry Wolves women’s soccer team kept their season alive on Tuesday afternoon as they knocked off pesky No. 6 Tusculum in penalty kicks (4-3) in the SAC quarterfinals.
The Wolves (10-3-4) were hosting the SAC quarterfinals for the first time since 2010 and won their first SAC quarterfinals shootout having been 0-3 all-time prior to today. This particular game though was a rematch of a 5-1 Newberry victory this past Friday night at Tusculum. With the season on the line, 90 minutes of play wasn’t nearly enough to separate the two teams and the game ended in a penalty shootout. Newberry missed in the first round but four straight made penalties netted them the victory.
The first half of the game was sloppy as both teams struggled with first touches and weight on their passes but Newberry eventually found a groove and applied pressure to a Tusculum team playing the counter-attack. Newberry had a few buildups but three of their shots were blocked while the other two landed on frame as they took a 5-3 shot advantage into the break.
The game intensified in the second half the Pioneers had the first great chance to break the tie. Tusculum’s Taylor Lewis had the ball on the left side at the top of the box as she cut to the inside and fired a shot to the back post that came off the crossbar. It would turn out to be the only real chance the Pioneers would have.
Newberry’s first opportunity came in the 58th minute as senior forward Gabrielle Brodie (Rolleston, Canterbury, New Zealand) received a pass on the left side of goal. She took a touch toward the penalty spot and fired a shot to the low far post but was save Marissa Williams made a nice save to keep it wide.
With neither team able to find a score, the game headed to overtime. The first overtime period only saw two shots, both by Newberry, and neither of them went on frame. In the second overtime, senior midfielder Brayden Miller (Lyman, S.C.) almost ended the game on two separate occasions.
Brodie made two nice cuts inside defenders down the left flank and then played a ball across to a sprinting Miller who, with a defender on her back, got a shot off but went straight into the goalkeepers arms. Miller would get one more chance from Brodie as she played a ball in with less than five seconds left but her shot this time would go wide and the game headed to penalties.
Senior Sarah Sager (Saugus, Calif.) missed the first penalty and Tusculum’s Lindsey Kelly converted to make it 1-0 after the first round. Brenda Espinoza (Delhi, Calif.) would convert her penalty while The Pioneers’ Olivia Kilgore missed to even things at 1-1.
The two teams traded penalties to even it up at 3-3 going into the sudden death phase. Senior Sabrina Serafin (Northridge, Calif.) put her shot away to give the Wolves a 4-3 advantage and Tusculum was given the chance to send it another round. Taylor Lewis stepped up for the Pioneers but hit her shot well wide and high to give Newberry the final 4-3 edge and advance.
Newberry will take on the winner of the No. 2 Wingate vs. No. 7 Queens (N.C.) matchup on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Rock Hill.
