Game Summary
Jessica Clinton's play earned her the Most Oustanding Player Award in the Tournament.
BOSTON, MA-Jessica Clinton, the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, turned aside eight shots of which two were of the outstanding nature, and Lauren Erwin scored a sudden victory goal in the second round of penalty kicks to lift the Terrier women's soccer team to a victory over the University of Maine in the America East Conference Tournament title game on Sunday, Nov. 7.
The game will go in the record books as a 0-0 double overtime tie. However, because it was a tournament title game with the winner to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the outcome had to be decided on penalty kicks.
In the first round of five attempts by each team, both the Terriers and Black Bears scored twice, necessitating the second round, which is sudden victory.
Lauren Erwin's sudden victory penalty kick goal was the margin of win for the Terriers.
Only a freshman, Erwin (Orange, CT) stepped to the ball and drilled it to the lower right corner of the goal. The shot beat the diving Tanya Adorno. However, Maine's Annie Hamel had a chance to tie the game with her shot. It headed to the lower left side of the goal where Clinton (Valley Stream, NY) made the dive and sent the ball wide.
With that play, the Terriers earned their third America East Tournament title in the past four years and will find out on Monday, Nov. 10 where and who they will play in next weekend's first round of the NCAAs.
Clinton's save off Hamel was the second of her outstanding saves in the match. In fact, if she had not made the first save, she would not have had to make the second save.
The first save came with about 27 minutes to play in the match.
Maine's Kate Crawford intercepted a Terrier pass from about 30 yards out. She came dribbling down the slot when Clinton had to make a split-second decision. Does she stay in the box or come out to challenge Crawford. She decided on the latter and came out on Crawford. Just as Crawford let go of her shot, Clinton went down on her knees, put up her hands, and made the sparkling save.
"I knew I had to make the save or that would have been it," said Clinton, who earlier in the week had been voted the Conference Goalkeeper of the Year by the league coaches. "I knew that there would be no chance for our defenders to come over and make the save if the shot had gone by me. So it was really a do-or-die situation. It was all reaction."
And, then, talking about the save she made on Hamel in the second round of penalty kicks, "I was just able to read it in time."
After playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the two teams set their lineup for the first round of penalty kicks.
"We practiced penalty kicks on Tuesday," said Terrier head coach Nancy Feldman. "Then, I came up with our lineup and told it to the team. I said that if anyone was uncomfortable in this situation, and didn't want to take a penalty kick, they should come and see me. I told them there would be no problem if they didn't want to take the kick, but no one came to me so I left the lineup as it was."
Meghann Cook, who had two goals in the Terriers' 2-1 win over New Hampshire in the semfinals, was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Jessica Clinton, Melissa Shulman, and Brittany McDonald.
The first five were Brooke Bingham (Duxbury, MA), Emily Dionne (Rockland, MA), Melissa Shulman (Huntington, NY), Meghann Cook (Melrose, MA), and Brittany McDonald (Lindenhurst, NY). Dionne, with a shot to the right side of the goal, and Shulman, who drilled the ball to the upper left of the goal, scored the Terriers' two goals.
In the meantime, Maine scored twice while Clinton made three saves, and the score was knotted at 2-2 entering the second round of penalty kicks.
"During pre-season, we practiced penalty kicks and Lauren Erwin did not miss on her tries," said Feldman. "When I put the lineup together for our penalty kicks today, I \ decided to put Lauren as number six because she is a freshman. She certainly could have been in the top five."
Erwin continued her perfection with her penalty kick goal that will send the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament.
"I thought the two best teams in the conference were out there today," said Feldman. "It was difficult to get things going today. The backs on both sides played very well.
"When it got to penalty kicks, I felt confident we would be successful," the coach continued. "Our players showed just how poised and focused they were. I have to give our players a lot of credit because they did what they had to do in order to advance.
"I wish it could have been decided in the run of play rather than on penalty kicks, but that's the rule," said the coach. "It is very rewarding to know we are going back to the NCAAs."
