ROCK HILL, SC – Courtney Durbin’s first career hat trick, including the game-winning goal in overtime, lifted the Winthrop women’s soccer team to a 3-2 win over the Liberty Flames on Saturday evening at Eagle Field.

The Eagles improve to 7-5 on the season and 3-1 in the Big South, while the Flames fall to 5-4-3 overall and 2-1-1 in conference play.

“It was a very entertaining game tonight,” said head coach Spencer Smith. “We panicked a little bit in the second half, and you have to give Liberty a lot of credit for coming back and scoring two goals. They were very resilient in that respect. We got our composure back after the second goal and started to settle down a little bit.”

Durbin’s first game-winning goal of the season came in the 98^th minute as she was fouled by a Liberty player inside the 18-yard box and was awarded a penalty kick. Her shot was saved by Flames goalie Karen Blocker, but the ball deflected off of her and went straight back to Durbin. She then put her rebound shot past Blocker into the left side of the net and gave Winthrop its second extra period win of the season.

Durbin’s first two goals of the contest gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead heading into halftime. Her first goal put Winthrop ahead 1-0 in the 37^th minute with the assist coming from Tori Davis. Davis chipped her pass over the Liberty defense to Durbin, who fought off a Flames defender and put her shot into the left side of the net. She would then increase the Eagles lead to two goals in the 43^rd minute on a cross from Krystyna Freda. Freda had possession of the ball outside of the 18-yard box near side and put her cross back to the middle of the box where Durbin snuck behind the defense and scored into the open net.

Aimee Luurtsema cut Liberty’s deficit to 2-1 in the 68^th minute as she had possession of the ball inside the 18-yard box, and scored near side after making a spin move to beat a Winthrop defender. Luurtsema’s second goal of the match nodded the contest up at 2-2 in the 80^th minute as she received a through ball near side from Maddie Boone and put her shot inside of the right post.

The Eagles victory was the first over the Flames since 2007, and now gives them a 6-3-2 all-time lead in the series.

Winthrop outshot Liberty 18-15 in the contest, while both teams attempted seven shots on-goal each. The Eagles also held a 6-5 advantage in corner kicks.

Durbin and Freda led Winthrop offensively with four shots apiece, while goalkeeper Sarah Schippers finished the contest with five saves. Luurtsema took a team-high four shots for the Flames, and Blocker snagged a total of four saves.

The Eagles will be back in action on Thursday, Oct. 13 as they travel to Lexington, VA to take on the VMI Keydets at 4 p.m.

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