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Ferris State Wins Shootout Over Ohio Dominican To Advance To GLIAC Semifinals!

Ferris State Wins Shootout Over Ohio Dominican To Advance To GLIAC Semifinals!

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's soccer team stunned host Ohio Dominican in the 2013 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament on Tuesday (Nov. 5) afternoon as the Bulldogs pulled out a shootout victory over the Panthers to reach the league semifinals for the second consecutive season.

The two teams battled to a 1-1 deadlock in regulation at Panther Field in Columbus and neither team was able to find the back of the net in two periods of overtime action.  

In the penalty kick shootout, though, the Bulldogs put three-straight attempts past ODU goalkeeper Laura Clark while Bulldog senior Rachel McCollum stopped the first three Panther tries to lift fifth-seeded Ferris State to the upset over fourth-seeded Ohio Dominician. Ferris State won the shootout by a 3-0 count.

Ferris State received penalty kick goals from senior Amanda Foster and sophomore Amanda Mathy before fellow sophomore Casey Shauman ended the contest by finding the back of net as well in the third round.  ODU's Alexa Scardinal, Laruen Pratt and Kelly Johnson all were denied by McCollum as FSU prevailed.

Ohio Dominican grabbed the early lead in the contest as Johnson notched her fifth goal of the year on a shot at 20:31 of the first half off a cross from the right side by Courtney Kozak.

The score stood until the 72nd minute when FSU finally tied the match up on a right-side shot from sophomore Abby Meirndorf off a Shauman assist at 72:26 of the second half.

The Bulldog victory came despite the fact ODU held a 22-14 shot advantage for the day with seven on goal compared to four for Ferris State.

However, McCollum and the Bulldog defense were up to the task as the senior made three saves in 120 minutes of action besides the three saves in the shootout.  Clark had six saves for the Panthers before allowing the three Bulldog goals in the penalty kick round.

Overall, the Bulldogs were charged with eight fouls to seven for Ohio Dominican and ODU also owned a slim 6-5 margin in corner kick tries.

Junior Leanne Boehm tallied a team-high three shots for the Bulldogs, who also received two each from Shauman along with Meirndorf and Meredith Smith.  Johnson led the Panthers with four shots as did Christen Adams for ODU.

The Bulldog victory avenged an earlier 3-1 setback to the Panthers in Columbus (Sept. 20).  The two teams had tied for fourth place in the GLIAC standings in regular-season action, but Ohio Dominican earned the tiebreaker edge and the right to host by virtue of the head-to-head matchup earlier this year.

FSU is now 9-7-2 overall this season under first-year head coach Andy McCaslin while ODU finished the year with a 10-5-3 record on the year.

This year marks the Bulldogs' fourth consecutive conference tournament appearance, which is the longest stretch in school history.  In addition, it also represents the first time in the program's 15-year history in which the Bulldogs have reached the semifinals in back-to-back campaigns.

The 2013 GLIAC Semifinals will be held on Friday (Nov. 8) with the championship on Sunday (Nov. 9) in Allendale, Mich.  Ferris State will face top-seeded host Grand Valley State in the semifinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. (ET).

In the other GLIAC quarterfinal-round matchups played Tuesday afternoon, second-seeded Michigan Tech topped number seven seed Saginaw Valley State 1-0 in double-overtime while third-seeded Ashland blanked sixth-seeded Northern Michigan by a 1-0 count in regulation.  Meanwhile, GVSU beat eighth-seeded Northwood in yet another 1-0 decision.