ACC Tournament
CARY, N.C. -- Top-ranked Virginia suffered its first loss of the season, falling to No. 5 Virginia Tech 4-2 on Friday night in an ACC semifinal at the WakeMed Soccer Park. The loss snapped the Cavaliers (20-1) school-record 20-game win streak, while the Hokies (16-3-2) advance to Sunday's championship game.
For the second consecutive game, the Cavaliers fell behind early in the contest. Jazmine Reeves scored off a breakaway in the ninth minute to give the Hokies the 1-0 lead. The Cavaliers drew even in the 17th minute as sophomore defender Emily Sonnett one-timed a corner kick from junior midfielder Danielle Colaprico inside the far post for her second goal of the season. Less than a minute later Virginia Tech retook the lead as Reeves scored on another breakaway for her second goal of the evening and her 10th goal of the season. The Hokies took the 2-1 lead into intermission, marking the second time this season the Cavaliers have trailed at the half.
Virginia Tech extended the lead to 3-1 in the 50th minute when Murielle Tiernan headed in a Jordan Coburn corner kick. The lead became 4-1 in the 71st minute as Katie Yensen headed in a cross from Kelsey Loupee. The Cavaliers drew back a goal in the 84th minute when sophomore forward Makenzy Doniak scored on a breakaway for her team-leading 15th goal of the season.
Virginia will now await the NCAA Tournament bracket, which will be announced on Monday. The field of 64 will be unveiled on NCAA.com.
No. 3 Florida State 2, No. 4 North Carolina 1, OT
CARY, N.C. -- Second-seeded Florida State (17-1-3) scored twice after the 80th minute on Friday night inside WakeMed Park including the game-winner in the first overtime to defeat third-seeded North Carolina (17-4-0) 2-1 in the second semifinal of the ACC Women's Soccer Championship.
With the win, the Seminoles advance to their seventh ACC Championship game and first since claiming their first-ever league title in 2011. Florida State will meet fourth-seeded Virginia Tech, who handed top-ranked Virginia its first loss of the season, at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Both goals scored by Florida State were courtesy of an own goal as the Seminoles became the first school to defeat North Carolina four times in a row. It also marked the second time in the last three years that FSU has knocked UNC out of the ACC Tournament as both victories have come in overtime. Florida State now has six wins against North Carolina all-time tying Notre Dame for the most wins against the Tar Heels in their storied history.
SEC Tournament
No. 5 Florida 2, No. 22 Mississippi 1
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- A pair of first half goals gave Florida a 2-1 win against Mississippi on Friday’s first Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal match at the Orange Beach Sportsplex. The win sends the Gators to Sunday’s championship match – the 15th SEC Tournament final appearance in the program’s 19-year history.
Florida faces Texas A&M in Sunday’s final. The Aggies advanced with a 2-1 win against South Carolina. Florida and Texas A&M shared the 2013 regular-season title as each turned in a 9-2 league record.
Florida scored twice in the span of seven minutes of the opening half. Sophomore Lauren Smith received the ball back from Havana Solaun near the top of the box and then sent it immediately to Savannah Jordan who had spun to free herself just inside the box. The shot Jordan took to the center of the goal caught the Rebel goalkeeper wrong footed, scoring the match’s first goal at 10:19. Then a give-and-go between Solaun and Lauren Smith resulted in Smith flying when she was tripped in the penalty area. Solaun successfully converted the penalty kick at 17:10.
The Rebels narrowed the lead to a single goal at 29:07 when Jennifer Miller’s 25-yard shot curled in the upper slot of the far corner.
Jordan now has 22 goals for the season – the highest total for UF since Abby Wambach scored 31 as a Gator senior. That total equals the number St. John’s (N.Y.) sophomore Rachel Daly – the NCAA Division I leader – brought into Friday’s play.
Texas A&M 2, South Carolina 1
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- Freshman Liz Keester scored two goals in the first 12 minutes of the match as No. 21 Texas A&M knocked off No. 9 South Carolina 2-1 on Friday night in the semifinals of the SEC Soccer Tournament.
With the victory the Aggies will face No. 5 and top-seeded Florida for the championship at 1 p.m. Sunday.
