Horned Frogs Drop Heartbreaker To Utah In Vegas

Thursday, November 6

Las Vegas, Nev.

2:00 PM

TCU

14-4-2

Utah

11-8-2

OT 2

TCU

Utah

Horned Frogs Drop Heartbreaker To Utah In Vegas

11/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Nov. 6, 2008

Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Lizzy Karoly netted a goal in the 89th minute of the match to send the game into overtime, but it wasn't enough as TCU dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Utah on Thursday in semifinal action at the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

"I thought the kids showed a tremendous amount of character coming back as late as they did," said head coach Dan Abdalla. "We created enough chances to win the game, but we made a few mistakes in the back with an own goal and a tough penalty call. That's the tough part about this game is that anything can happen, but overall I thought we did a decent job. We just didn't get the result we wanted."

In a back and fourth match early on, sophomore Jackie Torda tried to connect from the middle of the field off a cross, but watched as her shot sailed wide of the goal. Torda came right back 10 minutes later, but had her shot blocked a Utah defender.

It appeared as if Lizzy Karoly netted her 11th goal of the season off a deflected shot by Jordan Calhoun late in the half, but the tandem was called for offsides in the box and the goal was taken off the board to keep the score at 0-0 entering the halftime break.

Coming out of the half, Katie Taylor served a ball into the box off a free kick, but Karoly wasn't able to handle the pass and headed the ball over the goal.

In the 60th minute, Karoly made a run off a beautiful ball through the Utah defense by Kaylie Garcia, but the junior's shot just missed the right side of the goal to keep the score even at 0-0.

Utah got on the board in the 63rd minute of the match when Katy Reineke beat Kelsey Walters on a penalty kick. Taylor came right back a little bit later firing a free kick into the box, but Utah keeper Emalee Rogers came up with the save to keep TCU off the board.

Late the match, Chelsey Wilgenburg blasted a shot in the 73rd minute from the left side of the field, but the ball sailed to the side of the net to keep the score at 1-0 in favor of the Utes.

Karoly, a junior from California, netted the equalizer in the 89th minute, beating Rogers off assists by Taylor and Caroline Starns. On the play, the junior slid into the box from about 15 yards out toeing the ball into the lower right corner of the goal past Rogers to send the match into overtime.

Utah needed just 25 seconds to secure the victory during the extra session. The match's deciding goal came by an own goal. On the play, the Utes took the opening touch and dribbled the length of the field before Lauren Hair crossed the ball into the box. TCU tried to clear the ball, but it took an unfortunate bounce off a Horned Frog defender into the back of the net to give Utah the hard-fought victory.

Overall, TCU was led on offense by Karoly and Taylor, who both recorded three shots apiece, respectively. On defense, Walters posted three saves, while Rogers had two on the day.

With the loss, TCU moved to 14-4-2 on the year, while Utah improved to 11-8-2 overall and avenged its earlier loss to the Frogs this fall.

TCU will now have to wait until Monday to find out if it has received an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament. All NCAA selections will be announced next week following the conclusion of conference tournaments on Sunday. Opening-round action will take place on Nov. 14 on respective campuses.