Tampa Women’s Soccer Wins National Championship
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - In just its 10th year of existence, The University of Tampa women's soccer team won the NCAA II national championship with a 3-1 shootout victory over five-time national champ Franklin Pierce College. With the game scoreless following regulation and two overtime periods, the 20-2-3 Spartans took the shootout to claim the program's first title.
Tampa and Franklin Pierce (18-2-5) played the first double-overtime match in NCAA Division II women's soccer championship history and the first decided on penalties. It marked the third-straight year the women's final went to overtime. While the match was the first championship appearance for UT, the Ravens appeared in the national championship match for a Division II record seventh time. It was FPC's first since 2003, with their last national title coming in 1999.
"Even though it was a 0-0 tie, I thought it was an exciting game," says Tampa Head Coach Gerry Lucy, who defeated Franklin Pierce as head coach at West Chester (Pa.) University in last year's quarterfinal round. Franklin Pierce obviously provided some stiff opposition. They are a quality team and we did a good job marking their key players, including Demoner, who is one of the best players in the country."
The two teams battled through 110-minutes of scoreless soccer and both struggled to create scoring chances all afternoon. This was the second shootout of the postseason for Tampa, who also defeated Columbus State in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 shootout win.
After being outshot 4-3 in the first half, the Spartans held a 4-0 advantage in the second half. Through 110 minutes of play, UT held an 11-7 advantage in shots as both goalkeepers were perfect in net. Shannon Aitken made two saves for Tampa while FPC's Brittany Ester had four.
The shutout was the 14th of the season for Aitken, as she concludes her UT career with a school record 40. Her 14 this season also represent a single-season school record as she now holds the top three individual season performances with 12 in 2005 and 11 in 2006. Aitken's 59 career wins is also a UT record.
The shootout session needed just four shots for each team as UT took a 3-1 advantage. Franklin Pierce went first in the shootout, but missed their first three kicks. Mackenzie Bulych pulled the opening kick wide of the left post. After Shelby Kuni beat Brittany Ester to the left side to give Tampa an advantage it would never lose, Jenna Giardina saw Aitken get a hand to her kick. Ester kept Franklin Pierce alive with a diving stop on Courtney Evans, but senior All-American Gabriela Demoner scuffed her attempt enough to allow Aitken to keep it away from the net.
After Allison Haines converted Franklin Pierce's lone kick, Ashley Flateland clinched the championship for Tampa in the fourth round with a low shot to the left side. Flateland was also credited with the game-winning goal for the Spartans as the match officially goes down as a Tampa victory.
"I just didn't want to miss it, I was thinking about our keeper and I didn't want to let her down," says Flateland. "She had played so well. It's a good feeling, but I am more proud of my defensive play."
Flateland had marked up the Ravens' top scorer Gabriela Demoner all game long. Tampa Head Coach Gerry Lucey agreed, "We did a great job stopping #10 (Demoner), she is a very dangerous player. When they switched her, we just had Ashley follow her all-day, so we only had to do minor adjusting."
While both team's had their scoring chances in regulation, UT had theirs in the second half. Alison Penland spun free at the top of the penalty area seven minutes into the second half, but Ester was positioned well on the right post to make a point blank save. Ester came up big again in the 72nd minute, when a clearance by Franklin Pierce sophomore back Rachel Smith spun towards the goal area. Freshman back Kelly Weygand was there to collect the loose ball, but slipped to allow Kuni a one-on-one chance that Ester snuffed out on the right post.
"I should have had the shot in the overtime, but you can't get down," says Kuni. "You have to keep pluggin. This was a great tournament and great place to play. We did some fun things here, and the team came together."
Tampa took the initiative in the first overtime and had a chance to end the match seconds in. Kuni took a pass just outside the six, but lifted her shot over the cross bar. Reesey Bernard had a volley from the top of the 18 in the right channel just drop behind the cross bar in the 93rd. Bulych got on the end of a Demoner corner kick in the 97th minute, but got little power on the shot with Aitken well positioned to make a catch save.
The two teams were similar in many categories, with each taking six corner kicks. The match also had 39 fouls, 20 for Tampa and 19 for Franklin Pierce. Shots on goal went in Tampa's favor at 4-2.
No stranger to national championships, UT has now claimed 12 national titles in the history of its athletics program. Recent success has been unparalled as Tampa has now won four national championships in less than two years. Women's soccer now joins baseball (2006, 2007) and volleyball (2006) as recent champs.