Emmitsburg, Md. (October 29, 2023)—Mount St. Mary's advanced to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference semifinals on penalty kicks in a dramatic First Round matchup at Waldon Family Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
After the two teams played to a scoreless draw through 110 minutes of regulation and overtime, the Mount was able to move on to the semifinal round with a 3-1 advantage in penalty kicks.
After
Klil Keshwar earned the clean sheet during regulation and overtime, Mount St. Mary's head coach
Melissa Sherwood turned to senior captain
Arden Lembryk to man the goal for the penalty kicks. Lembryk made a pair of saves to spark the Mount to a 3-1 win in penalties.
In the penalty shootout, the Mount's
Nathalie Mejia opened the scoring with Lembryk making a save on Niagara's Isabella Mazzaferro. After a Mount miss, Niagara's Emma Bough evened the score at 1-1 through two penalty takers. The Mount's
Madison Bee calmly put the Mount back on top, 2-1, and Lembryk came up with another save to keep the Mount in front.
Luisangely Navas made it 3-1 by converting for the Mountaineers, and Niagara's Emily Hahnel sent her kick over the goal, setting off a Mount celebration.
Keshwar came up with four second half saves, including a point blank stop on Bough in the 82
nd minute. Niagara put the rebound into the back of the goal after the save, but was offsides on the play.
The Mount had a goal called back at the end of the first overtime period.
Amani Green sent a ball into the box that was turned away by Niagara keeper Agnes Stenlund. The Mount put the rebound in, but was called for a foul on the keeper on the play, negating the goal.
The Mount (7-8-3) outshot Niagara, 15-12, in the game, including a 6-to-1 advantage in the overtime periods. Keshaw had four saves in the game in her seventh clean sheet of the season while Stenlund made six saves for the Purple Eagles (5-10-3). The Mount had a 7-to-3 advantage in corner kicks.
The Mountaineers were hosting their first-ever women's soccer playoff game in program history, and the Mount advanced to the next round of the playoffs for the first time in program history.
The Mountaineers advances to the semifinals where they will play at No. 2 seed Fairfield on Thursday, November 2, at 7:00 p.m.
