Women's Soccer Advances To BIG EAST Finals

Nov. 7, 2015

OMAHA, Neb. - The Providence College women's soccer team, a No. 6 seed, tied the No. 2 seed Georgetown Hoyas, 1-1, in the BIG EAST Semifinals on Friday, November 6 in Omaha, Neb. The Friars then earned the right to advance to the BIG EAST Championship game after posting a 4-2 advantage in penalty kicks. For the Friars, it marks their first trip to The BIG EAST Championship game since the team won the innagural title in 1993.

The first half was full of dramatic saves. The first team save came from freshman Hailee Duserick (Canton, Mass.) after back-to-back shots in the 7th minute. Junior Kristyn Shea (Piscataway, N.J.) made an impressive save in the 27^th minute when a shot from Melissa Downey was redirected by Shea.

The first 45 minutes ended scoreless, while Georgetown held the advantage in shots (9-1), as well as corner kicks (6-0).

The Friars opened up the second half with an impressive show. The Friars recorded five shots and held Georgetown to just two shots in the first 14 minutes of the second half. This included a great shot that just nearly made it in from 40 yards out by senior Catherine Zimmerman (Madison, N.J.) in the 53rd minute.

Zimmerman repeated this attempt from 35 yards out and was successful in the 64^th minute. She launched the ball into the net straight on for her seventh goal of the season. The assist was credited to sophomore Madison Doherty (Peabody, Mass.) for her second assist of the season.

In the 84th minute, Georgetown's Crystal Thomas scored an unassisted goal to even the game at 1-1. The second half finished tied to send the game into overtime. In the second half, the Friars held the advantage in shots (12-5).

The game was sent into double overtime and the game finished with a tie and the game needed to be determined by best of five penalty kicks.

Georgetown's Newins was in net to defend for the Hoyas, while the Friars assigned senior Megan Sweeney (Coral Springs, Fla.) for her first appearance in the 2015 season. The first kick from Providence was good from Zimmerman. Georgetown's Rachel Corboz also had a good first penalty kick.

For the second round of PK's, freshman Katie Day (East Kensington, N.H.) found the back of the net although she did not play during the game. Sweeney deflected Melissa Downey's PK attempt to give the Friars a 2-1 advantage.

The third round of PK's were won by freshman Kayla Steeves (Needham, Mass.) and Sweeney blocked Audra Ayotte's shot for a 3-1 advantage.

The next round was also split; however, Providence's shot from senior Kathryn Hiller (Dartmouth, Mass.) was deflected and Georgetown's Grace Damaska's shot was good to close the gap to 3-2.

Providence's next attempt determined the game and it was up to senior Morgan Thomasian (Manasquan, N.J.). The kick was good and the Friars secured the advancement to the final BIG EAST Championship game.

The Friars last time in the BIG EAST final was in 1993 when they won the title in a game versus UConn (1-0).

Shea made three saves in 110 minutes. Shea has allowed just two goals in the past five games and improved her goals-against average to 0.97.

Sweeney, who saved 2-of-4 Georgetown penalty kicks, has been in net for a total of 12 games in her career, with her last appearance on Oct. 25, 2014 vs. Marquette in the 4-0 loss.

The Friars are set to play in the BIG EAST Championship game versus No. 4 Butler at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 8 at Morrison Stadium in Omaha, Neb. The game will be live on FOXSports1.

-GO FRIARS-

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Team Stats

Catherine Zimmerman

Madison Doherty

Rachel Ugolik

Kathryn Hiller

Players Mentioned

Katie Day

Madison Doherty

Hailee Duserick

Kathryn Hiller

Kristyn Shea

Kayla Steeves

Megan Sweeney

Morgan Thomasian

Catherine Zimmerman

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Providence College Athletics