University of Louisville
SETON HALL
Smyth Nets Winner in Double OT
October 14, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shannon Smyth continued her knack for the dramatic, scoring her third overtime goal of the season, this one with just under two minutes remaining in the second overtime period, to give the University of Louisville a 1-0 win over visiting Seton Hall on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Cardinal Park.
Senior goalkeeper Joanna Haig made four saves on her way to her ninth shutout of the season and 17th in her Cardinal career, both establishing new school records.
"Our will and our perseverence allowed us to be in a position to win the game. By no stretch of the imagination was it a good performance, but sometimes it doesn't need to be pretty to win," Head Coach Karen Ferguson said.
Both teams played a very physical brand of soccer, in a hard-fought defensive game that saw 26 fouls.
Louisville (10-3-1, 5-2-0 BIG EAST) had the first scoring chance when senior Monique Gjini sent a shot just over the crossbar in the sixth minute of the match.
Seven and a half minutes in, defender Jessica Mello was knocked out of the game when she was hit in the face at close range by a ball being served into the box from 40 yards out. The loss forced the Cards to shuffle their lineup for the final 100 minutes of the match.
Seton Hall's (7-5-2, 3-3-1 BIG EAST) Katherine De Tata bounced one off the crossbar in the 24th minute, and in the 28th minute, SHU's Ashley Reinecke gathered a loose ball inside the box and targeted the upper left corner with a shot, but Haig made a nice leaping save to maintain the scoreless deadlock.
The Cards outshot the Pirates 6-2 in the first 45 minutes.
Both teams struggled to mount an offensive attack in the second half. Haig made three stops, including a game saver in the 77th minute on a shot by the Pirates' Maeve O'Donnell.
The overtimes were very similar to the second half until Smyth was able to net her BIG EAST-leading fifth game winner of the season.
Katie Owen fired a throw-in deep into the 18 where Kelsey Hunyadi flicked it on to the foot of Smyth at 108:06 for her sixth goal of the season. Four of her goals have been in conference play and all four are game winners.
The Cardinal defense has allowed just six goals on the season and only one goal in six matches at Cardinal Park.
Haig, who ranks in the top 20 nationally in shutouts and GAA, has a 0.41 GAA overall and 0.27 in BIG EAST play.
"Joanna is at a different level," Ferguson noted.
" A class kid, a class soccer player, the organization she provides for the team defensively, she is a very solid goalkeeper."
The 10 wins marks the fifth time the Cardinals have notched double figures in the win column, with Ferguson at the helm of four of them, each coming in the last four seasons, including a school record 13 in 2006.
The Cards have won three straight, and are 3-0-1 on the season in overtime matches.
Louisville will host their final two regular season home games in Cardinal Park next weekend, with Marqutte coming to the Ville Friday night at 7:00 p..m and USF Sunday at 12:00 for Senior Day.
