Women’s Soccer Tournament Results (Oct. 30)
(6) Loyola 1, (3) Valparaiso 0
(5) Wright State 1, (4) Youngstown State 0 (OT)
Loyola continued the winning ways of the No. 6 seed in the Horizon League Women’s Soccer Tournament, while No. 5 Wright State won in overtime to reach the semifinals round on Friday.
(6) Loyola 1, (3) Valparaiso 0
On a blustery day at Brown Field, No. 6 Loyola scored against the wind in the opening half and hung on for a 1-0 win over third-seeded Valparaiso.
With the win, Loyola (8-8-3) advances to the Horizon League Tournament semifinals, where the Ramblers will meet top-seeded Milwaukee. The victory by the sixth-seeded Ramblers marks the third straight season the No. 6 seed has beaten the No. 3 seed in the Horizon League Women’s Soccer Tournament.
Winds were whipping near 30 miles per hour on the field, and despite working into the breeze in the first half, Loyola struck first. Tricia Stonebraker’s pass found the foot of Allison Shimer, whose shot from eight yards out tucked inside the far post to beat Kristen Manski.
Working with the wind in the opening 45 minutes, Valparaiso (10-6-3) fired 13 shots, five of which were on goal. Monica Gonyo stopped all five, however, to preserve the clean sheet. Gonyo had to make just one save in the second half, recording her eighth shutout of the year.
Tara Ellis led Valparaiso with three shots on goal in the match, while Sarrah Ludwig added two in the defeat.
Loyola will meet Milwaukee at approximately 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 2, in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals, with the Horizon League Network carrying the match live. The teams played into double overtime on Oct. 10, with the Panthers taking a 2-1 win in the waning seconds of play.
(5) Wright State 1, (4) Youngstown State 0 (OT)
For the second time in four days, Wright State and Youngstown State went to overtime. But this time, the fifth-seeded Raiders flipped the script, using a goal three minutes into the sudden-death period to beat No. 5 Youngstown State, 1-0, at Stambaugh Stadium.
In cold, rainy conditions, Wright State (8-4-6) had the better run of play over the last part of the second half and into overtime. Emilie Fillion capitalized at the 2:55 mark of the first overtime period, after Allie Metzler played a ball to a streaking Adrianna Guerrero on the left side.
Jackie Podolsky came out to stop Guerrero’s initial shot, but the rebound ricocheted to Fillion, who corralled the ball and pushed it into the open net.
The goal gave Wright State its second straight opening round win as the No. 5 seed; the Raiders did the same in 2011 before knocking off No. 2 Detroit to reach the Horizon League championship. This year, Wright State will play Detroit again in a rematch of the 2011 semifinal.
After a sluggish first half saw the teams seemingly playing between the 20-yard lines at Stambaugh Stadium, play picked up from the outset of the second, with Youngstown State (8-9-0) controlling the run of play across the first 10 minutes of the half.
Wright State’s Brooke McCurdy made two of her three saves in that stretch, posting her seventh shutout of the year to get the win. Podolsky had six saves for the Penguins in the defeat.
