The Grand Valley State University women’s soccer team survived a thrilling quarterfinal match against Colorado School of Mines that ended in a 4-2 penalty shoot out after a stalemate through 90 minutes of regulation and two 10-minute sudden-
death overtime periods.

Both teams came off Friday evening victories in the third round with Colorado Mines defeating Fort Lewis College 1-0 before GVSU took the field to defeat Northern Kentucky University 3-1.

Junior forward Ashley Botts found the net seven minutes into the game on an unassisted scoring breakway 20 yards out from goal, but an own goal by the Lakers leveled the score going into halftime. Jessica Trost scored the winner against Northern Kentucky on Friday, putting the Lakers up 2-1 in the second half before Kayla Addison sent a cross by Botts to the back post for GVSU’s third.

GVSU then faced off against Colorado Mines Sunday on the Oreminers’ home turf in Golden, Colo.

“They certainly had a great crowd, it was loud and boisterous,” said GVSU head coach Dave Dilanni.

For the first time all season, the Lakers were out-shot 12-5 through 110 minutes of play. Shooting was a problem for both sides however, as GVSU recorded just one shot on target while Colorado Mines fired two.

“We knew what we were up against, how disciplined and patient they were defensively,” Dilanni said. “A lot of the shots we gave up were from 25, 30 yards away. Our opportunities weren’t going to be frequent … the game was a battle of two different
styles today.”

Senior goalkeeper Chelsea Parise made two crucial saves in the first half to keep the scores deadlocked, one more than opposing goalkeeper Penny Rodgers made all game for Colorado Mines.

“The home field advantage (for Mines) was a challenge for us to battle through,” Parise said. “They had a large crowd and they were used to the altitude, but the team dug deep and kept pushing the entire game.”

Parise was vital in the penalty shoot out stoping the first of the four Oreminer kicks taken from the penalty spot. She missed saving kicks two and four and watched the third ricochet off the upper corner of the crossbar.

“We didn’t buckle under pressure,” Parise said. “We have worked all season on (penalty kicks) and that came through today.”

The Lakers supported their goalkeeper in the shoot out accurately finding the net on all four shots scored by Kayla Addison, Kayla Kimble, Charlie Socia and Alison Oien.

“There was a lot of screaming and yelling trying to distract our kids,” Dilanni said. “It was a difficult
atmosphere and we knew that, but our kids did a fantastic job … the (penalty kicks) were just clinical.”

The Lakers have a final four match date on Dec. 1 with California State University-Chico in the NCAA National Semifinals in Pensacola, Fla.

“We’ll take the next 24 hours to celebrate the victory and we’ll start getting our scouting reports, getting our kids healthy and try to work on some fitness so we can try to defend the national championship,” Dilanni said.

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