Lyman, Tigers Best No. 16 UCF In Overtime
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Brittney Lyman has 22 career goals, but none were bigger than the one she scored on Friday night.
Lyman struck for the game winner with 1:54 remaining in the second overtime to give Colorado College a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over No. 16 UCF in a game that was moved to the Washburn Field turf after lightning caused a 30-minute delay to the scheduled 4 p.m. start.
“That was definitely worth the wait,” Lyman said. “It was our second-to-last home game, so I didn’t want to let anything slip away. It was our first win in overtime this year, so it felt really great.”
The senior forward took a perfect cross from junior defender Kecia Morway, and calmly slid a shot from the right side of the box inside the far post for her first deciding tally of the season and the third of her career. The assist was Morway’s first point as a Tiger.
“It was a perfect cross from Kecia,” Lyman said. “I took a touch and the keeper was coming toward me. I just tried to slip it passed her fingertips toward the post.”
With 55 career points, Lyman climbed into sole possession of 10th place on the program’s all-time list, surpassing Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Tara Nott’s total of 54.
It marked the second time her career that Lyman has notched the game-winning goal under the lights at Washburn Field. In the 2009 season finale, she set a program record by scoring five times in a 5-2 victory over UTEP.
“I can’t remember a bigger one, but I can remember a big five,” Lyman said. “When we found out we were going to be playing on the turf, I didn’t mind because this is a lucky place to play and I was hoping I could get another goal in a big game.”
Sophomore midfielder Kaeli Vandersluis ignited the comeback in the 66th minute when she re-directed a pass from senior midfielder Hannah Peterson inside the right post to tie the match.
The Knights took the early lead when Jennifer Martin put a curving shot into the right side of the net after freshman midfielder Sophie Howard slid a pass across the box from the right side.
“It was a great game,” head coach Geoff Bennett said. “UCF is, and it always has been, an unbelievable program. We’ve played them tight the last couple of years and I think that’s because we respect them so much. We never take our foot off the gas for the week of training when UCF is coming up.
Both teams generated excellent scoring chances throughout the game.
Lianne Maldonado made a spectacular save on junior midfielder Madison Whitehead’s direct kick from 25 yards away in the 12th minute. UCF’s junior keeper also made a diving stop on junior forward Lynn Froetscher’s shot from 10 yards with 1:58 to play in the first overtime.
At the other end, Hanna Berglund stopped two of the three shots she faced to improve to 5-1-0 in goal.
“That game could have gone either way,” Bennett said. “We ended up winning, and maybe that’s the soccer gods making up for last Friday where I thought we maybe should have won in overtime. But that’s how our game works. They had a couple of great chances, and we had a couple of great chances. We just happened to finish two.”
CC finished with a 14-11edge in total shots and a 7-3 advantage on target.
“Tonight was important,” Bennett said. “As coaches, we have seen and coached a lot of teams. Telling the team they can play with anybody is one thing, having them truly believe it is another. Hopefully tonight gets our players to the point where they truly believe it.”
The Tigers improved to 9-3-4 overall and 4-2-1 in Conference USA. The Knights slipped to 10-4-1 overall and 4-3-0 in league play.
Colorado College plays host to Southern Miss on Sunday in the final home game of the 2012 season.
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