CHARLESTON, SC – The second-seeded Winthrop women’s soccer team moves on to its third consecutive Big South Tournament semi-finals after prevailing in the penalty kick round against the seventh-seeded Charleston Southern Buccaneers on Thursday evening at Blackbaud Stadium.

The Eagles are now 12-6-1 on the season, while the Buccaneers season comes to an end with a 9-8-2 overall record.

“That was a heck of a match tonight by both teams,” said head coach Spencer Smith. “I thought both teams played extremely well and when it comes to the tournament you have to try advance. Fortunately we were able to advance tonight. I was really proud of the team. You have to give Charleston Southern a ton of credit, they played very well too. We have to get some rest and recovery in and get ready for tomorrow.”

Charleston Southern controlled the possession in the opening half attempting five shots with three on-goal, and held Winthrop to just two shots with one each coming from Lia Gorden and Kylie Long. Toni Lashley led the Buccaneer offense with two shots. Charleston Southern also held a 4-0 advantage over Winthrop in corner kicks.

The story remained the same in the second half as both offenses were able to manufacture multiple scoring opportunities, but the two defenses kept the teams off the scoreboard heading into the first overtime.

The Eagles and Buccaneers attempted two shots each in the first overtime, and one in the second overtime before the contest ended in a 0-0 draw and went into penalty kicks.

Rachel Webster began the penalty kick round by converting on her shot for Winthrop, and Schippers followed by making a diving save to her left on Allison Lewis’ attempt. Courtney Durbin put the Eagles ahead 2-0 after her successful attempt, but Aislinn McIlvenny made it 2-1 after her goal. Ashley Herndon then scored for Winthrop, as did Andrea Williams for Charleston Southern to make it 3-2. Kylene Babauta was successful on her try inside the penalty box, and Gina Thomas matched Babauta to trim the Buccaneers deficit to 4-3 going into the final penalty kick round. Krystyna Freda recorded the game-winner after beating Buccaneer goalie Amy Arroyo and gave the Eagles the 5-3 overall victory in penalty kicks.

It is the fourth consecutive contest in which Winthrop has gone into penalty kicks when playing at Blackbaud Stadium. All three of the Eagles matches at the 2009 Big South Women’s Soccer Championship ended in the penalty kick round.

Winthrop and Charleston Southern finished the game with 14 shots each and seven shots on-goal, while the Buccaneers held a 9-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Freda led the Eagle offense with four shots, and Schippers earned her second shutout of the season after grabbing seven saves. Lashley had a team-best four shots for Charleston Southern, while Cody also had seven saves.

Winthrop will face the third-seeded Campbell Camels for the first time in tournament history on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in the second semi-final match of the day. The Camels defeated No. 6 Gardner-Webb 3-1 prior the Eagles match.

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