PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 5 Rutgers women's soccer advanced to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals, winning the penalty kick shootout over No. 8 TCU following a 1-1 double overtime draw. The Scarlet Knights won the Third Round shootout, 5-4, moving on to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015.
Senior forward
Amirah Ali recorded the goal for RU, marking her 11th of the season. Sophomore forward
Sam Kroeger notched an assist for her fourth helper of the year. Senior goalkeeper
Meagan McClelland registered eight saves in the match. McClelland also saved three penalty kicks, while successfully scoring one of her own in the shootout.
Rutgers opened the game with a shot from
Sara Brocious just seconds into the match, however, it would be saved by TCU's keeper.
In the 18th minute, the Scarlet Knights found their second shot on target. Kroeger drove from midfield to about 18-yards out, passing to Ali at the right corner of the box. Ali went one-on-one with a defender, taking a shot to the far post for the goal and 1-0 RU lead.
McClelland and the defense held strong in net recording three consecutive saves to keep it 1-0 in the 39th minute. Overall, McClelland registered five saves in the first frame.
At the start of the second half, McClelland recorded two saves in net for the Scarlet Knights. Then in the 62nd minute, Ali recorded back-to-back shots on goal to counter for RU, though both would be saved by the Horned Frogs' keeper. Lowrey followed with two more shots on target for RU, both of which would also be saved.
In the 84
th minute, TCU scored the equalizer, knotting the match at 1-1. Ali found a great chance in the 88th minute, however, it was saved and the match was sent into overtime.
Although Rutgers and TCU each found opportunities across two overtime periods, the game would end in a double overtime draw and enter penalty kicks.
The first four rounds of penalty kicks saw
Becci Fluchel,
Amirah Ali,
Meagan McClelland, and
Riley Tiernan push RU to a 4-4 mark in the shootout. McClelland made a big stop for the Scarlet Knights to start the fifth round, going on to save two more in the sixth and seventh round for RU. Still tied at 4-4 thanks to McClelland's heroics, Lowrey stepped up next and converted the PK successfully to send RU to the Elite Eight.
Rutgers awaits the winner of Arkansas and Notre Dame for a meeting in the NCAA Quarterfinals on the weekend of Nov. 26-28. Matchup, date and time is to be announced.
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