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Soccer Advances to NCAA Second Round on PK's, 2-1Soccer Advances to NCAA Second Round on PK's, 2-1

Soccer Advances to NCAA Second Round on PK's, 2-1

Soccer Advances to NCAA Second Round on PK’s, 2-1

Box Score

Baton Rouge, La. – The 19th-ranked LSU soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday with a 2-1 result over Boston University in penalty kicks. Caroline Brockmeier made four saves in the five-round penalty kick shootout and Abbey Newton and Lucy Parker‘s conversions in the fourth and fifth round sealed the deal for the Tigers.

Playing in front of a crowd of 1,309 fans at LSU Soccer Stadium, the Tigers and the Terriers battled to a scoreless draw after 110 minutes of play before heading to penalties. In the first seven attempts in penalties, only one was converted and that was McKenna Kennedy of Boston University in round one. After Brockmeier made her third save of penalties in round four, Newton, a freshman, knotted things up at one with her conversion. Brockmeier followed that up by slamming the door shut on Chelsea Churchill’s fifth-round attempt, and Parker finished the match off with her conversion in the fifth round to give LSU the 2-1 advantage in PKs.

Brockmeier was absolutely stellar in net making seven saves between regulation and overtime play. Her seven saves on the match moved her into a tie alongside her coach, Megan Kinneman, for the most saves in school history with 284. It was the 10th shutout of the season for Brockmeier to move her career total to 24. The 10 shutouts in 2018 are the second most in a single season in school history trailing only Mo Isom’s 12 in 2009.

The Tigers struggled to find any early chances against a Boston University squad that dominated the first 35 minutes of play. The Terriers outshot LSU 10-2 over the first 35 minutes before LSU put together a couple of good chances towards the latter part of the first half. The first chance came in the 43rd minute when a free kick from Chiara Ritchie-Williams was initially headed by a Boston U. defender. The header resulted in a little bit of a loose ball situation about 10 yards from the net and Parker was able to get her noggin on the ball next. Her touch went to Lindsey Eaton, who was just inside the 6, and her backwards toe touch was saved by Morgan Messner, the BU keeper. Just before the end of the half, Parker got her head on the ball again in the box and her header off of LSU’s third corner kick of the half was cleaned up from eight yards out.

LSU was only able to muster one shot on goal in the second half, a 20-yard rip from Alex Thomas in the 70th minute of play. Brockmeier followed up her two saves in the first half with five more in the second half and her school-record equalizing save came in the 77th minute. Neither team had any quality chances in either of the two overtime periods that resulted in the match advancing to penalties.

Penalties

Boston University – Kennedy (Y), Varley-Barrett (N), Harris (N), Kofton (N), Churchill (N)

LSU – Thomas (N), Richardson (N), Cutura (N), Newton (Y), Parker (Y)

Quotes of Note

“Our mental toughness is through the roof. Our physical toughness is fantastic. We want to win. Our kids just want to win and advance. It’s more than just the 11 on the field as well. The energy that came from the sideline today was fantastic. It’s a real collective group of 32 people all with the same goals in mind. Pushing, pushing, pushing. We all just want to have success on the field. We know we deserve it, but we also know we have to earn it.” – Head Coach Brian Lee on the group effort Sunday

“Nobody ever plays a perfect 90 minutes. If you’re going to be successful in this game then you have to be able to ride the low moments. For us it was a lot longer than we wanted. We saw it through. These experiences are going to help us in the long run because we know we can grind out a poor game by our own standards.” – First Team All-SEC defender Lucy Parker on being able to advance without playing their best game

“I think we believe in each other. I know they have my back and in the end I’ll have theirs. We just focus on what we have to do.” – Caroline Brockmeier on why the team has been successful in penalties

Notes

  • This is the third time in program history that LSU has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament; the other two trips to the second came in 2007 and 2009
  • With the draw, LSU improved to 2-4-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament
  • LSU is now 13-6-4 on the season
  • This is the first time in program history that LSU has advanced in the NCAA Tournament on penalties
  • Brockmeier, who now has a career high 106 saves in 2018, became the fourth keeper in program history to record over 100 saves in a single season

Up Next | NCAA Bracket

LSU will head to Tallahassee, Fla., for the second round of the NCAA Tournament and face off against the fourth-seeded USC Trojans on Friday (November 16) at 1 p.m. CT.