By: by Matthew Farhadi
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - The Kennesaw State women’s soccer team lost an overtime, 1-0, heartbreaker to the Mercer Bears on Saturday evening during Homecoming, which also served as Senior Night at KSU Soccer Stadium.
With the loss Kennesaw State notched the No. 4 seed in the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and will host either East Tennessee State or Stetson in the first round on Saturday, Oct. 30, while the win locks Mercer in as the No. 2 seed, earning them a first-round bye. The time of the Owls' match next Saturday is still to be determined.
Mercer was awarded a free kick with five seconds left in the first overtime. The ball took a bounce and found its way through the Kennesaw State defense right to the foot of Sarah Elliot. She then one-touched the ball past Pugh into the back of the net with one second remaining to give the Bears the win.
Junior Katie Scott nearly put the Owls in front in the 50th minute as her shot beat the Mercer goalkeeper, but the ball clanked off the crossbar to keep the game scoreless.
The match was the first one to go to overtime ever between the two squads, and the second-ever extra-time match the Owls have played at KSU Soccer Stadium.
Senior goalkeeper Staci Pugh made several key saves to keep the game scoreless heading into overtime.
In the first overtime, both teams kept play in the midfield for most of the period until the final five seconds.
The win improves the Bears to 8-8-1 (7-3-0 A-Sun) on the year, while the loss drops the Owls to 8-7-2 (5-4-1 A-Sun) to end the regular season.
Owls Head Coach Rob King talked about the final play after the match.
“Two players went up for a 50-50 ball at mid-field, and the referee gave a free kick the other way. Mercer dumped a long ball into the box which they beat us to, and just got a deflection into the goal,” King said. “Those overtime periods are always tough. It was a good match, unfortunately someone had to lose, and it was definitely a tough way to end the game. We will live to fight another week though, and we will put this one behind us and get ready for the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.”
The match, which was the closing event of Kennesaw State's Homecoming Weekend, drew a crowd of 1310, a record for an Owls home soccer match.
Prior to the match, the squad's four seniors, Sadjr Williams, Savannah Duet, Caroline Austin and Pugh were honored at midfield for their years of contributions to the Owls program. Each were presented with a commemorative plaque depicting them in action, while breif bios recounting their playing careers were read to the fans. Each player spent their entire collegiate career with the Black and Gold.
