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Lady Paladins Slip Past UNC Greensboro 1-0, Advance To SoCon Tournament Championship Match
Nov. 4, 2005
Greenville, S.C. - Freshman Rachel Fry's header beat a sprawling UNC Greensboro goalkeeper to the upper righthand corner at the 99:30 mark to lift Furman to a 1-0 victory over the Spartans in Southern Conference Women's Soccer Tournament semifinals action Friday night at Stone Soccer Stadium. The second-seeded Lady Paladins advance to face fourth-seeded Western Carolina in the championship match Sunday at 1:00p.m.
With less than one minute remaining in the first ten minute overtime period, sophomore Gena Villari collected the ball just outside of the 18-yard box and served a pass into Fry. The forward, daughter of former Furman All-Southern Conference baseball standout Glenn Fry, leaped to beat her defender to tally her fourth goal of the season. Villari's assist was her third in two SoCon Tournament matches this weekend.
"Tonight was just a great game," said Fry. "We are playing well at the end of the season and really starting to click when it counts. I'm so proud of my teammates and the effort we gave tonight."
For the second straight day Furman goalkeeper Andie Hinshaw ended the night with a clean slate to continue to pad her SoCon career record for shutouts, which now stands at 36 games after the win against the Spartans. The senior also notched her single season school-record 11th shutout.
"It is good to know that I have Mickey Palanza and Kate Myatt in front of me to deal with UNCG's big forwards," said Hinshaw of her two defenders. "We just felt like if we could continue to keep them out of the box that we would find a way to score a goal."
Scoring chances were few and far between in a match that saw UNCG hold a 10-9 edge in shots. The best chances in regulation came through the Paladins efforts, with the first taking place in the 85th-minute on a through ball from Andre'a Morrison to Emily Krankowski. UNC Greensboro goalkeeper Jennifer Stillman came out and made a tremendous sprawling save, denying Furman and Krankowski of the go-ahead goal.
A little over two minutes later with Furman continuing to apply pressure, Morrison once again was in the mix, but came up short again, knocking the ball over the crossbar from just outside the six-yard box.
UNC Greensboro had several chances to get on the board themselves during the final minutes, making Hinshaw make a tip save with just 10 seconds left in regulation on a Shannon Donovan free kick from 35 yards. Hinshaw finished the match with seven saves while Spartan keeper Jennifer Stillman stopped three shots in the loss.
The victory was Furman's second in six meetings with the Spartans in Southern Conference Tournament play. It was also Furman's second win over the Spartans in less than a week. The Lady Paladins staged a dramatic comeback from a 3-0 deficit to upend UNCG 4-3 on Senior Day last Sunday.
