The fifth seceded Saint Louis University women’s soccer team
pulled off a ‘semi’-upset last night, knocking off No. 4 seed South
Florida 2-0, in the opening round of the 2003 Conference USA
tournament.
The game was the third of the opening round, all of which were
won by the lower secedes.
The Billikens and the Bulls played a scoreless 84 minutes until
freshman Dee Guempel fired a pass from junior Jamie Perry into the
back of the net to give the Billikens the lead.
Perry added a goal of her own as time was running out to give
the Bills the two-goal advantage and advance them on to the
semi-finals against the top-seeded UAB Blazers ,who beat Charlotte
3-0 in a penalty kick shootout.
Late last week, in a fitting close to their regular season, the
Billikens defeated DePaul 1-0 on Saturday. On a cool, rainy and
windy day, the Bills secured a victory in a game that featured only
seven combined shots on goal from both teams.
Each goalkeeper made three saves, with Amanda Martin earning a
shutout.
Conference USA and a fifth seed in the conference tournament, held
last night. The Bills close out the regular season with a
respectable record of 12-5-2 and 6-3-2 in C-USA.
Perry netted the only goal of the match in the 80th minute of
the match, giving her eight for the year and 32 in her three-year
career. With her 15 career assists, Perry became the all-time
scoring leader at SLU with 79 points.
Freshman midfielder Courtney Hulcer picked up her eigth assist
on the goal, which ties her with Perry for the team lead in
assists. Gumpel also picked up an assist on the play, her fourth of
the season.
Perry was named to the All-C-USA team, along with senior Anny
Lucier and sophomores Christie Cigno and Kelly Ferguson.
Gumpel and Hulcer were named to the All-C-USA freshman team.
The defensive play along with sophomore goalkeeper Amanda
Martin’s performance helped to ensure the victory. One of the keys
to the shutout was to keep a strangle hold on DePaul’s Julianne
Stitch.
“Our defense, mainly Tressa Pecher, did not allow the
conference’s leading scorer and the offensive MVP of the conference
to even shoot the ball once,” Martin said. “It was great to get
away with a shutout. I was very happy with the way our team played,
as well as with how I played. I was not forced to make many saves,
but in the saves that I made, I was happy about it. Our team
currently has 11 shutouts, which is one shy from our school record,
set by Meghann Burke. It is such an honor to follow up a goalkeeper
of her quality. She really set a precedent here at SLU and it feels
amazing to carry it on.”
Martin and freshman goalkeeper Lyndsay Gensler have combined for
the Bills’ 11 shutouts this season.
“We all played so hard and with a ton of heart. The playing
conditions were terrible, it was pouring down rain and freezing,
but our team really stuck in there and finished with a good win,”
Martin said.
C-USA Tournament Semi-finals
Who: UAB or UNC-Charlotte
When: Tonight, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Transamerica Park, Charlotte, N.C.
