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Schedule/Results | Roster | News | Archives Bengals Win Conference Title in Sudden Death Penalty Kicks 4-3
Nov. 5, 2006
Pocatello, ID - In what easily was the most exciting game ever in the history of the Big Sky Conference Soccer Tournament, Lyndsay Gensler saved Katie Burton's penalty kick in the seventh round of the shootout, and Idaho State advanced to their fourth NCAA College Cup, winning 4-3 over the Sacramento State Hornets in a sudden-death penalty kick shootout. The Bengals will find out their first round opponent on Monday afternoon at 1:00 pm as the selection show will air live on ESPNews. The game officially goes into the record books as a 2-2 tie, but that is of little consequence to either team. The #3-seeded Hornets (10-7-4) dictated much of the play, outshooting the top-seeded Bengals (10-8-1) 13-7 on the game, and 6-4 on goal. The penalty kick shootout was a roller coaster throughout, as SAC's Megan Trojan stopped Michelle Okamura's opening kick. After both Sarah Howard hit for Sacramento State and Annamarie Hofstetter for the Bengals, ISU caught a huge break when Katie Rorabaugh's shot sailed high. ISU then took a 2-1 lead when Kim Crosbie connected and Gensler dove to her right for a save, but ISU's Kilee Quigley had her shot saved by Mandy Trojan and Katie McCoy nailed her kick to tie it at two after four rounds. ISU's Jill Christofferson then was denied by Trojan, and Kelly Novak stepped up for the win, but Gensler again dove well to her right and just knocked away Novak's attempt, sending the game to sudden death penalties. Chantal Kim and Maggie Murphy both hit in round six, and Natalie Graham scored to open round seven for ISU. Gensler then stepped up and became the hero, saving Katie Burton's shot with a third diving stop to her right, where she was promptly mobbed by her teammates. Said Gensler of the final save, "I just tried to wait for the kicker and read the body language. I wait for them to hit it and try to get there quick enough. It worked for me today." The win clinched a fantastic season for first-year ISU head coach Allison Gibson, who took a team that missed the tournament completely the last two years and turned them back into the league champions. "It was a tremendous effort by our players. At the beginning of this season we knew we had a big mountain to climb and right now we're standing on top of it." Gibson added that it was mostly about the players. "As coaches, we just set the framework this season. The team painted the picture. They've trained so hard and deserve all the credit for everything the have achieved."
It looked like the game would never even get to overtime, as the Hornets took a 2-1 lead with 13:03 left when reserve Kim Kemper chested down a free kick from Katie McCoy and hammered home a goal for a 2-1 Hornet lead. However, ISU answered just 2:03 later when Jill Christoffson sent a b all to the back post looking for Chantal Kim. The ball sailed past Kim, but off the hands of Trojan towards the goal. The ball was cleared, but not before it barely crossed the line to tie things up at two apiece. Sacramento State nearly took a 2-1 lead with 28 minutes left when Maggie Murphy beat two defenders and rocketed a shot that banged the right post and bounced right out in front, where ISU's Kalie McGuire was able to clear it out of danger. The Hornets opened the scoring at the 31:26 mark when Sarah Howard took a Maggie Murphy pass and beat Gensler near post for a 1-0 lead. ISU responded at the 35:18 mark when Graham took a Chelsea Cox pass in the box and just beat Trojan for the tying score. Hofstetter also picked up an assist on the goal. "You have to score to win and that was our mindset after Sacramento State scored," said Graham, whose sister Janel hit a penalty kick in the shootout against Utah in the 2003 NCAA College Cup. "We wanted this. We're proud of each other, the school, and the community. We're proud to be Bengals." 2006 All-Tournament Team
NOTES: In the first nine years of the conference tournament, there were only two overtime games and no games went to a shootout, but two of the three in the 2006 tournament did just that ... In the only other time ISU hosted the conference tournament, the Bengals won the title 1-0 in overtime over Portland State ... Sacramento State had eight corners to ISU's one ... the Hornets were playing in their first championship game ... ISU is now 7-1-1 in conference tournament history, while the Hornets are now 0-4-2 ... ISU's fourth conference tournament title broke a three-way tie with Montana and Weber State for the most titles ... ESPNU's internet site picked up the bigskytv.org championship feed for the overtimes and the shootout, and according to ESPN officials, over 3,000 logged in to watch the penalty kicks. |
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Idaho State Women's Soccer
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