WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The Kutztown University women's soccer team is Final Four bound.
A spectacular defensive effort – that produced KU's school-record tying 13th shutout – allowed
Emily Zwiercan (Reinholds, Pa./Cocalico)'s
55th minute goal to serve as the game-winner as KU shutout Bridgeport 1-0 in its Elite Eight matchup on blisteringly cold and windy day at Rockwell Field on Sunday afternoon.
Kutztown (20-4) had just two shots on the afternoon and they were both crucial. Just over a minute before Zwiercan's score,
Felicia Silveira (Hampton, N.J./Voorhees) ripped a shot from just outside the box that forced a save and led to the Golden Bears only corner of the contest. Although the corner was cleared outside the 18, the ball fell to
Alyssa Ryan (North Wales, Pa./Wissahickon), who curled a cross into the box that found the feet of Silveira.
Silveira one-touched the ball to Zwiercan, who took a quick touch before chipping her shot into the top right corner for the eventual Final Four berth-clinching goal.
From there, the back-four of
Dana Wong (West Milford, N.J./West Milford),
Katie Miller (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn),
Kristina Miller (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) and
Cassie Schmidt (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall), as well as the defensive midfield of
Kate Martin (Lititz, Pa./Warwick) and
Shea Conway (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) and goalkeeper
Imani Taylor (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern Regional) took over to finish what they started.
Time-after-time the group kept their composure as Bridgeport possessed the ball throughout most of the match and ripped off a total 25 shots, 11 of which produced Taylor saves - a new career-high for the sophomore.
16 of those 25 shots came in the first half when Bridgeport had the wind at its back. Taylor made several key first half stops, but the biggest one came from Wong, who kept the game scoreless going into the half with a goal-line clearance just 11 seconds before the horn.
Bridgeport (18-4) then had eight attempts in the final 35 minutes as it pushed forward for the equalizing score. Taylor made a save in the minute after KU's goal, and later on Schmidt cleared a ball in front of the net in the 71st minute.
Another Taylor stop in the 72nd minute was then the final one until the waning moments of the game with less than three minutes remaining. A shot from outside the box forced Taylor to go to the ground to punch the ball away. The rebound bounced out to a Purple Knight right in front of net for a point-blank opportunity, which Taylor amazingly dove to stop for a
game-saving denial.
That would be Bridgeport's final chance, as the clock struck zero minutes later and the
celebration started.
The 2016 women's soccer team becomes just the fifth team in Kutztown athletics history to reach the Final Four, joining the 1982 and 1997 field hockey teams and the softball teams in 2012 and 2013. It also becomes just the second Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) team to advance to the Final Four, joining West Chester in 2006.
Kutztown will play No. 1 Western Washington (22-0-1) in the Final Four, hosted at the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Mo., on Thursday, Dec. 1. The winner advances to the National Championship on Saturday, Dec. 3 to play the winner of No. 2 Grand Valley State (22-1-1) and No. 5 Columbus State (21-2).
