Amanda Brusic scored midway through the 66th minute giving unranked Montana State Billings a 1-0 upset victory against 19th-ranked Cal State L.A. Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Region women's soccer tournament at Interbay Stadium.
The Yellowjackets (13-5-1), making their first postseason appearance in school history, advance to a second-round matchup against No. 9 Seattle Pacific (15-1-2) Saturday at 1 p.m. at Interbay.
“We're trying to write some history for our program and the first part was getting into the NCAA tournament. As I told the girls the other night, the next part was winning a game in the tournament,” said Billings coach Don Trentham. “So we're obviously excited. It was a big win for us. “
Brusic set up the goal by picking the ball off the foot of a Golden Eagles defender. Then, from 23 yards away and to the right of the penalty area restraining arc, she chipped a shot that floated just inside the right post, barely beyond the reach of CSULA goalkeeper Gabriella Batmani at 65:39. It was her first goal of the season.
“The ball came out just a little outside the 18. I just shot it and it was like in slow-motion to the upper seven. It was awesome,” said Brusic. “It's so nice to win coming in and my only thought was ‘I want another chance at SPU.'”
Billings and top-seed Seattle Pacific met twice during the GNAC campaign. The league champion Falcons won both times: 3-0 in Seattle on Sept. 16, and 2-1 in overtime at Billings on Oct. 16.
Yellowjackets goalkeeper Sabrina Grandke-Bawab made six saves to keep the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard. Cal State L.A. (15-4-1), which had an eight-game win streak snapped, outshot Billings 10-4, in the rain that got harder as the afternoon progressed.
Grandke-Bawab denied two dangerous opportunities by CSULA during the first half and one more late in the game to preserve the victory. Midway through the 33rd minute, she came out to the top of the box to swipe the ball off the foot of Ann Marie Tangora.
Then, with less than two minutes remaining before halftime, Natalie Martin of the Golden Eagles took a 25-yarder from the left wing side that was bending toward the right post.
Grandke-Bawab leaped to her left, stretched and hauled in the ball at the last possible moment to keep the game scoreless.
With 5:07 left in the game, CSULA got an enticing low cross from the right flank into the 6-yard box. Tangora, who came into the game with 14 goals, turned and fired a point-blank shot, but Grandke-Bawab reacted in time to stop the shot.
Men's Soccer: Simon Fraser Advances To Finals
Three second half goals, including the game winner by freshman Anders Tetlie, propelled Simon Fraser to the NAIA's Association of Independent Institutions Conference finals as the Clan defeated Cal State San Marcos 4-1 Thursday afternoon.
The Clan, which is already assured of a berth in the NAIA national tournament, will face the University of St. Thomas in the finals in Phoenix after the Celts defeated Lambuth 2-1 in overtime.
“It was an incredibly physical game; San Marcos is a physical team that relies on trying to out muscle their opponents,” said SFU head coach Alan Koch.
“[San Marcos] is effective on set pieces, and our guys did a good job of keeping their composure in the heat of the battle.”
SFU (18-1-0) held a 1-0 lead during the first half after defender Anthony DiNicolo scored in the 20th minute with a strike from 35 yards out that bent inside the top corner of the opposing goal. It was his first goal of the season.
The Cougars tied the game 10 minutes into the second half, but the seasoned Clan responded when senior Sang Hwang dribbled across the 18-yard box and fired a cross into the six-yard box that found Tetlie, who beat the Cougar keeper to give SFU a 2-1 advantage.
With 15 minutes left in regulation freshman Joseph Martin added another marker for SFU, directing a pass from Roman Doutkevitch into the back of the net.
Ten minutes later John Hodnett added the clincher, heading a cross from defender Helge Neumann.
Volleyball: Geary Leads Vikings Past CWU
Outside hitter Marlayna Geary had a team-high 12 kills, including seven in the final set as Western Washington defeated Central Washington 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 in a GNAC match Thursday at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
The 15th ranked Vikings (18-3, 15-2) moved into a tie for first place in the GNAC with idle Seattle Pacific with their victory.
Meanwhile, Alaska Anchorage (17-8) and Western Oregon (14-8) each won matches to set up a showdown Saturday in Anchorage for third place in the conference. Both teams are 12-5.
The Seawolves kept alive their post-season hopes by defeating Saint Martin's, 25-16, 25-19, 24-26, 25-11. Western Oregon outscored Alaska Fairbanks, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22 to hold onto its share of third place.
Western Washington trailed 13-12 in the opening set in its victory, but ran off seven straight points, three of them on service aces by Emily Jepsen, and never led by less than four points after that.
Western took the lead in the second frame for good at 6-5, but was still up by just one at 17-16, but scored the next three points to take control.
The final set was also close early, with the Vikings never up by more than three points until they used a run of seven points that included three straight points by Geary on two kills and a solo block, essentially putting the match away.
Outside hitter Megan Amundson had 11 kills for Western. Jepsen had match-highs of five aces and six blocks and libero Allison Gotz had a match-high 25 digs.
Kady Try led Central (13-10) with a match-high 13 kills. Meg Ryan added 11 kills and 15 digs as the Wildcats wrapped up their season with an 11-7 conference record.
Western has won all eight of its home matches this season via sweeps, and is 96-11 (.897) at home since going to a Sport Court surface in 2000.
Alaska Anchorage 3, Saint Martin's 1
Robyn Burton and Marie Borowikow tallied nine kills apiece to lead a balanced Alaska Anchorage offensive effort against the Saints (2-21, 1-16).
The Seawolves also got 26 assists and 12 digs from freshman setter Siobhan Johansen as they defended their No. 7 West Region ranking.
Kirstyn Druzianich had a match-high 12 kills for the Saints, who managed to take a set from the Seawolves for the first time since 2007.
UAA middle blocker Cortney Lundberg had eight kills and a match-high five block assists, while outside hitter Jackie Matthisen added eight kills and a career-high four aces. Lee Golden and McKenzie Moss finished with six kills apiece.
Freshman libero Quincy Haught lifted 18 digs - one shy of her career-best - and Moss had 15 digs and a pair of aces. Defensive specialist Nikkie Viotto delivered 14 digs and three aces a s UAA outhit the Saints .228 to .090.
Western Oregon 3, Alaska Fairbanks 1
Stephanie Beeler had 14 kills and Danielle Reese had 10 as Western Oregon overcame a 18-kill, 18-dig performance by Tereza Bendlova to defeat Alaska Fairbanks.
The Wolves also got eight kills each from Corynn Kopra and Samantha Ward. Becky Blees led a nine-block effort, contributing to five of them. Beeler and Krissi Kemper each were in on four of the blocks.
Each team had 52 kills - UAF's Simone Chavous had nine and Marybeth Wikander and Karlee Skalla had eight each - but Western Oregon made 10 fewer errors and outhit the Nanooks .206 to .141, including .250 to .132 in the decisive fifth set.
Megan Triggs led the WOU defense with 24 digs, while Beeler had 16. Jennifer Holland had 23 digs for the Nanooks (6-17, 4-13).
Women's Basketball: Falcons Club Bruins In Exhibition
Redshirt freshman Katie Benson scored 15 points and was one of four Falcons to hit for double figures in a 97-48 exhibition rout of George Fox Thursday in Brougham Pavilion.
Forward Caitlyn Rohrbach added 14 points, center Melissa Reich scored 13 and guard Nyesha Sims added 11.
Seattle Pacific scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed.
SPU also won the battle of the boards 41-20. Benson and Sims had five each, as did junior guard McKayla Gorman.
No comments:
Post a Comment