San Diego knocks off UCLA in PKs

November 19, 2011

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The University of San Diego women's soccer team (12-7-2) will advance on to the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament after battling to a 1-1 tie with No. 2 UCLA (16-1-4), then defeating the Bruins 3-2 in penalty kicks on Friday evening in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Drake Stadium. USD will now pay Long Beach State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Drake Stadium in the round of 16. This is the furthest any USD team has advanced in the tournament.

After the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw, the NCAA rules state the game will officially go down as a tie, but the two teams must have a shoot out to determine a winner. After each team hit a pair of pk's, it all came down to Elissa Magracia, and she sailed the ball into the top left corner of the goal to give USD the win, snapping a 30-match winning streak by the Bruins on their home filed in the NCAA Tournament. UCLA now has a 31 match unbeaten streak.

San Diego wasted no time in scoring as they managed to score a goal at the 1:26 mark. Stephanie Ochs and Mariah Butera were in the middle of a scramble inside the UCLA goalbox, and Ochs slipped the ball to Butera who hit the ball past the UCLA goalkeeper to give USD an early 1-0 lead.

The Bruins then evened the score in the 80th minute, as Abby Dahlkemper crossed the ball to Jenna Richmond who then hit the ball past the defense and the ball hit off the far post and bounced in.

UCLA outshot the Toreros 17-6, and held a 10-5 advantage in corner kicks.

Courtney Parsons was huge in goal for the Toreros as she allowed one goal and recorded six saves.