Oct. 30, 2009
Final Stats
The top-seeded Loyola women's soccer team advanced to the MAAC Semifinals with a 5-4 win on penalty kicks after tying at one after a pair of overtime periods against Manhattan. Senior Amanda Meehan converted in the sixth round of penalty kicks after freshman goalkeeper Danielle Ippolito snagged a shot by the Jaspers' Jill Beauchamp to give the Greyhounds the victory.
After seniors Christina Gomez and Lina Staropoli converted on their penalty kicks, both Manhattan and the Loyola missed in round three. Freshmen Nichole Schiro and Gianna Mangione kept the Greyhounds alive in the fourth and fifth rounds, before Ippolito stopped a shot by Beauchamp, allowing Meehan to attempt the game-winner.
With the victory, Loyola is now unbeaten in 12 straight games (10-0-2), the second-longest streak in program history. The longest such streak is 13 games, which was set in the 2004 season. Unofficially, the streak is tied for the fourth-longest streak in the nation as Dayton is unbeaten in its last 17 games.
Ippolito came up big throughout the match, tying her career-high with five saves, including two in the first overtime session. Not seen on the stat sheet was the good position she pushed on a pair of one-on-one breakaways where she came out of the goal, forcing Manhattan to alter its shots and miss.
The Jaspers scored to take a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the match as leading scorer Caroline Morse, who did not appear in the game earlier this season at Loyola, pumped in her eighth goal of the season.
After facing a deficit for just the third time this conference season, the Greyhounds were able to bounce back like they had all season and tied the game at one. Freshman Nichole Schiro knotted the score at one with a goal at 18:24 as a free kick by Kelly Thomas hit the crossbar and ricocheted to Schiro. Thomas was credited with the assist on the play, and with that, she ties several, including graduate student Theresa Ferraina and Staropoli, for the Loyola record for the most in a single season with eight.
The score was Schiro's team-leading ninth of the season and gives her 24 points this season, which also is tops on the Greyhounds. With her ninth goal, Schiro ties graduate student Theresa Ferraina for the sixth-most goals in a season at Loyola and her 24 points also is the sixth-most in Greyhounds single-season history.
In regulation, Manhattan outshot Loyola, 11-8, and held a 5-1 advantage on corner kicks. The Jaspers took two more shots to the Greyhounds' one in the first extra period as Ippolito made stops on both shots.
After a pair of overtime periods, Manhattan out shot Loyola 16-10 and held a 7-3 advantage on corner kicks.
Loyola (13-4-3, 9-0-0 MAAC) will take on fifth-seeded Canisius (13-3-3, 4-3-2, MAAC) in the MAAC Semifinals Sunday, November 1 at 11:00 am. The Griffins defeated fourth-seeded Iona, 1-0, in a quarterfinal game earlier in the day. The Greyhounds defeated the Canisius, 2-1, earlier in the season in Buffalo, N.Y.
