University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Cards Win Double OT Thriller 1-0 at Cincinnati
September 21, 2007 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 21, 2007
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Junior Shannon Smyth scored her third goal of the season in the 108th minute to give the University of Louisville women's soccer a 1-0 double overtime victory over Cincinnati in the BIG EAST opener for both teams Friday night.
"Certainly we are thrilled to get our first Big East win, but I give a lot of credit to Cincinnati. Their shape really made it tough for us to get into any sort of rhythm, but we made some adjustments during the match that helped us turn the momentum a bit in our favor," noted U of L Head Coach Karen Ferguson.
"We continued to fight hard into the overtime session, and Shannon was able to score a fantastic goal to give us the victory."
The Bearcats (2-4-1, 0-1-0 BIG EAST) came out and played with a tremendous amount of emotion and determination, and they nearly opened up the scoring in the 18th minute of play. A corner kick from the left side was served into the area and was knocked down by the Louisville defense to UC's Lindsay Noteboom standing just outside the penalty spot. She curled the ball toward the low right corner of the goal, but Louisville Senior goalkeeper Joanna Haig extended across the goal to make a fantastic diving save and keep the match scoreless. The Cardinals (6-1-0, 1-0-0 BIG EAST) picked up their play following Haig's save, holding Cincinnati to only long-range efforts.
The Cardinals went into halftime and looked to reorganize themselves in the second half. While UC continued to fight, a few chances began to open up for Louisville.
In the 60th minute Freshmen forward Kelsey Hunyadi made a penetrating run in behind the Cincinnati defense and she was able to touch the ball over the UC goalkeeper as she raced quickly off her line, but the UC defense did well to cover in behind the goalkeeper and managed to clear the ball off the line.
Hunyadi had another chance with just four minutes remaining in regulation when she made a similar run and once again slipped the ball past the goalkeeper, but this time the ball rolled just inches wide of the far post.
With three minutes remaining in the second overtime the Cards found their breakthrough.
Louisville earned a corner kick on the left side that was whipped to the top of the six by senior Monique Gjini. UC goalkeeper Andrea Kaminski tried to punch the ball clear, but the ball careened off of a defender and fell to the penalty spot where Smyth cracked a fantastic half-volley into the top of the net to give the Cardinals the win.
Haig had six saves for the victorious Cardinals, giving her 12 shutouts in 22 career starts, second in U of L history.
Gjini notched her 18th career assist, just one off of the school record on 19 held by Kim Marshall ('91-94). Her 58 career points places her in a fifth place tie with Joy Bubenzer ('90-93) in the Cardinal record books.
Louisville will host instate rival Kentucky (6-0-1) on Sunday afternoon in Cardinal Park in the final non-conference match of the season. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. ET, as the second game of a U of L double header, with the men's team hosting Georgetown at 12:00 p.m.
