WINTER PARK, Fla. (November 17, 2013) -
No. 15 Rollins fought back from a pair of one-goal deficits in
Sunday afternoon's NCAA Regional Second Round match, forcing
overtime with third-seeded Tampa. It was in the second overtime
period that a Paxton
Sickler goal propelled the Tars into the Third Round of the
NCAA Championships, defeating the Spartans, 3-2.
Rollins will now advance to the Third Round for the third time
in program history, hosted next weekend, Nov. 21-24, by the highest
remaining seed in the Southeast Region. The win also avenges losses
the previous two seasons to UT, both coming in the second round of
the NCAA Championships, that ended Rollins' seasons.
Including Sickler, three freshman accounted for Rollins' offense
in the win on Sunday; Mackenzie
Miller scoring her fourth of the year and Samantha
Collin adding her first as a Tar.
Chelsea Martin and Emily Jones each scored for Tampa; it was
Martin's sixth and Jones' fourth.
Rollins outshot the Spartans by a wide margin, 26-11, including
7-2 in the overtime periods.
Mary
Spring earned the win in goal, collecting two saves in over 106
minutes to improve to 16-3. Alyson Gregorowicz suffered the loss,
also playing the entirety of the game, recording eight saves.
After a scoreless first 40 minutes of play, Tampa got on the
board first when Martin cleaned up the rebound from her own shot,
putting the Spartans up 1-0.
The lead was short lived, however, as Miller headed home a
corner by Kelsey
Boone just over a minute later, tying the score at 1-1. The
assist was Boone's second of the year.
The game would head into halftime still tied and remain that way
until less than 10 minutes left to play. It was then that Jones got
lost in a crowd in front of the Rollins goal and was able to poke
the ball past Spring, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead with 8:40 left
in regulation.
The Tars picked up the offensive intensity and finally broke
through with just 40 seconds left when Collin collected a loose
ball in the box and slid it past Gregorowicz to tie it at 2-2 and
extend the game to overtime.
Both teams were held scoreless through the first 10 minute
overtime period and much into the second before Sickler ripped a
shot from outside the top left corner of the box and into the back
of the net for the game winner. It was the second game winner in
the last week for the freshman, as she scored in overtime of the
SSC Tournament Championship last Sunday.
Rollins will now play South Region top-seeded West Florida on
Friday, Nov. 22 in the South Region final. Stay tuned to
RollinsSports.com for more information on the Tars' road to a
National Championship.
