The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Illinois
Carpenter lifts Soccer to 1-0 upset win over No. 13 Illinois in second OT
09.03.2006 | Soccer
AUSTIN, Texas -- Junior forward Kelsey Carpenter made a 40-yard run after picking up a loose ball at midfield and fired a 17-yard shot into the nets with 6:01 left in the second overtime session, to lift The University of Texas women's soccer squad to a 1-0 upset victory over No. 13 Illinois Sunday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The win moves Texas to 2-1 on the season, while Illinois drops to 1-3-0.
Carpenter (Allen, Texas) scored the game-winning goal for the second consecutive game in a 42-hour span. On Friday evening, Carpenter netted the game-winner in UT's 2-1 dramatic victory over No. 3 Penn State.
These are UT's first back-to-back victories over Top 25 ranked opponents since 2003. That year in October, Texas beat No. 22 Nebraska (3-2, Oct. 22) and then followed with a win over No. 6 Texas A&M (2-1, Oct. 31), with both games played at home.
After 90 minutes of regulation play and the first 10-minute sudden death overtime, the game remained knotted at 0-0.
Three minutes, 59 seconds into the second overtime, Carpenter ended the match with her 16th career goal.
After both teams scrambled for the ball at midfield, Carpenter picked up the loose ball and dribbled around one defender before cutting across the field to the right side. She then made a 40 yard run past two Illini defenders, and played the ball around the final defender from 17 yards out as she drilled the ball into the lower left corner of the net.
That score followed what looked like an Illinois goal earlier in the second OT session, a goal which was waived off on an offsides call. With 9:11 left in the second OT, Illinois freshman Chichi Nweke crossed the ball into the box to Shannon McDonnell. McDonnell got the ball to Ella Masar, who headed it to Christina Sahly and Sahly redirected the ball with her own header into the nets from five yards out. As the Fighting Illini began to celebrate what appeared to be the game-winner, however, the referee signaled that Illinois was off-sides on the play, which negated the goal.
The Carpenter goal was UT's lone shot in the second overtime, while Illinois had two shots taken before Carpenter's game-winner.
Carpenter's goal Sunday also moves her into a tie for the No. 10 spot in Texas career goals scored. She shares that spot with Lauren Field (200-04) with 16 goals each. Carpenter is now two goals shy of tying for No. 8 on UT's all-time goals scored list.
Additionally, the goal was Carpenter's fifth game-winner of her career. That total ties her for sixth in the Longhorn record books for all-time game-winning goals.
"I started dribbling, and I saw that the right side was completely open," noted Carpenter, when asked about her score. "We've been working hard at not taking shots too far out, so I tried to focus on that. I saw that the far side was open, and I slipped the ball past the (defender and saw the far post open so I just ripped the shot and it went in."
"It feels good right now to have these two wins, and we will celebrate it tonight, but we really have to move on and prepare for New Mexico. We cannot live in the past, we have to look ahead, and we've got to be ready to play three games on the road now," Carpenter concluded.
Texas out-shot the Fighting Illini 16-13 for the game. In the OT periods, UT held a 5-4 shots advantage. Each team had four shots on goal. For the game, Illinois had four corner kicks, while Texas had one.
UT sophomore goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger registered her first shutout of the year, picking up four saves. One of those saves came in the second overtime. Illinois goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens made three saves, including two in the first OT.
"We just gutted it out. We were obviously tired as we gave everything we had on Friday," noted Texas head coach Chris Petrucelli. "It wasn't real pretty but we fought and fought right until we scored. They left everything they had out there, for sure."
That goal (by Carpenter) was unbelievable, one of the best I've seen," Petrucelli concluded. "Kelsey is so explosive and so fast. When she gets running forward, it's hard to stop her. We've been working with her on getting closer to the goal before she shoots, and obviously that's what she did there, and that was the big thing. She beat an extra player and took an extra touch, and got into a good spot to score."
Both teams had strong opportunities to score in the first overtime.
Just 54 seconds into OT, Burlingham carried the ball 50 yards down the field, beat two defenders in the box, then was tackled off the ball. She regained possession to sent a 10-yard shot toward an open right corner of the goal, but the ball went wide.
With 25 seconds in the first OT period, Illinois' Jackie Santacaterina sent a header from eight yards out wide left.
Texas out-shot Illinois by a 4-2 margin in the first OT.
Through 90 minutes of scoreless regulation play, Texas held an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal, while Illiniois had a 4-1 edge in corner kicks. Pfenninger had three saves in regulation, while Carstens made one save.
Illinois mounted offensive pressure in the last 19 minutes of regulation. The Fighting Illini's best opportunities came with 18:51 left when Chichi Nweke sent a 10-yard shot toward goal, past Longhorns goalkeeper Dianna Pfenninger, who was at the near post. That Nweke shot was intercepted by UT freshman redshirt defender Jill Gilbeau who chipped the ball over the net to stop the Illinois rally.
Following an Illinois corner kick with 9:27 left in regulation, the ball was sent into the box where Emily Zurrer send a ground ball shot from six yards out that Pfenninger dove on for the save.
Just 36 seconds later on a counterattack, the Longhorns had a great opportunity to score when Carpenter had an open look at the net, but sent her 20-yard chip shot from the right side into the box wide left, and it crossed untouched over the end line.
This was UT's first overtime match of the year. Last season, the Longhorns went 1-2-1 in overtime games.
The Longhorns return to action with a three-match road trip, playing two of those away matches next week. On Thursday, Sept. 7, the Longhorns square off against New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M. at 8 p.m. (Central). Texas then goes to Houston on Sunday, Sept. 10 to play at Rice (7 p.m.).
