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Nov. 13, 2009
IUP goalkeeper Kelly Brennan stopped a penalty kick by Gannon's Katie Urban and Ashley Moyer followed with the clinching shot to lift the Crimson Hawks past the Golden Knights and into the second round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional tournament Friday at West Chester. IUP (13-6-2) will face the host Golden Rams, the region's top seed and the No. 5 team in the nation, Sunday at noon. Gannon finishes its season with a record of 10-7-2. After battling through a scoreless 110 minutes of regulation and overtime in 25 mph winds and a steady rain, both teams made their first three penalty kicks in the shootout. Viann Heder, Sarah Romasco and Heather Robbins converted for IUP. In the fourth round of the five-round shootout, Brennan made what proved to be the decisive save when she rejected a shot by Urban. Allison Keller drilled her shot past Golden Knight goalkeeper Sabrina Chirco to give the Crimson Hawks a 4-3 lead. Gannon tied it at 4 on a shot by Kara Prokopchak to start the fifth round, but Moyer made it 5-for-5 in the shootout for IUP and moved the Crimson Hawks into the second round of the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history. "Nobody ever has an advantage when playing in these types of conditions," IUP head coach Adel Heder said. "We have a lot of respect for Gannon. They have a very good team. We were fortunate to be able to come away with the win." Although the teams combined for 39 shots neither had much in the way of quality scoring opportunities until the overtime periods. IUP had the best chance in regulation when a shot by Melinda Lieb went over the head of Chirco but the ball hit the crossbar. In the first overtime period, Gannon's Amanda Sharbaugh had a header stopped by defender Ashley Florijan and a rebound shot saved by Brennan. Melissa Kornock and Keller had solid scoring opportunities stopped by Chirco in the 105th and 108th minute, respectively. Brennan finished with 11 saves for IUP and Chirco had eight saves for Gannon. The Golden Knights held a narrow 20-19 advantage in shots while the Crmison Hawks took five corner kicks to four for Gannon. "Kelly has been fantastic for us all year. She did another wonderful job for us today," Heder said. IUP will be facing West Chester for the second time in 10 days when the teams square off in the second round Sunday. The Golden Rams defeated the Crimson Hawks 4-1 in the semifinals of the PSAC tournament last Friday and have won nine in a row in the series. |
