DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The seventh-seeded Embry-Riddle women's soccer team punched its ticket to the final site of the 2012 NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship with a 5-1 win over Faulkner, Saturday at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium. ERAU (16-5) moves into the Round of 16 where they will face Robert Morris, who advanced with a 4-0 defeat of Graceland in their Opening Round contest.
ERAU's offense was powered by senior
Ange Durston-Ryan and junior
Valerie Obita who netted two goals apiece. Embry-Riddle took advantage of Faulkner's high back line to register 21 shots in the contest, 15 of which were on frame, while the defense limited Faulkner to just two shots on the night.
Embry-Riddle grabbed an early lead off the boot of Obita at the 2:53 mark.
Krizzy Menez started the play, taking the ball down the right side and whipping a cross into the box. Faulkner goalkeeper Tia Rogers was able to push the ball back outside of the 18-yard box, but collided with another player in the process and went down on the play. The ball made its way to
Martine Olsen who lifted it back into the box to an unmarked Obita. With Rogers out of the play, Obita tapped the ball into an empty net to put the Blue and Gold up 1-0.
Ten minutes later, Obita extended the Eagle advantage to 2-0 when she outpaced the Faulkner back line and took the ball about 50 yards downfield and into the box, slotting a shot past Rogers into the lower right corner.
Faulkner got a goal back at the 42:11 mark when Latoya Panton latched onto a loose ball following a corner kick and pushed it past
Lauren Gallant and a pair of ERAU defenders to make the score 2-1.
Embry-Riddle responded a mere 32 seconds later. Durston-Ryan ran onto a ball and dribbled unimpeded for aprroximately 30 yards toward the goal. Rogers came way off her line and outside the penalty area in an attempt to close Durston-Ryan down, but the ERAU senior was able to slip the ball past the advancing keeper for a 3-1 ERAU lead at the half.
The Eagles scored early and late in the second half, beginning with
Katherine Ebbs' goal off a free kick in the 49th minute. As the announcer began the 10-second countdown toward the end of the contest, Durston-Ryan took a pass from fellow senior
Lauren McCall, spun and with just one second showing on the clock, she added the exclamation point to seal the win.
Rogers finished with 10 saves for Faulkner who closed out its season at 7-13-2.
The next round of the national tournament begins on Nov. 26. The remaining tournament games will all be played at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Ala. The 2012 season marks the second straight year that ERAU will advance to the final site. Embry-Riddle will take on Robert Morris (15-6) at 11 a.m. (CST) on Tuesday, Nov. 27.
