ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (November 10, 2025) - Women's soccer fought hard to keep their season alive, ultimately earning a pass to the SSC semifinals following their 1-1, 4-3 PK match at Eckerd on Monday. The Tars now stand at 7-5-4 on the season, while Eckerd moves to 7-5-5.
Eckerd got the party started early with a goal in the fifth minute. Working off a throw in, Olivia Ozbolt shot a ball on the ground into the box. Amazingly, it avoided the Tars defense and ended up at the feet of Freija Aflenzer, who blasted it into the net for an early lead.
In the 28th minute, Rollins found the equalizing goal. An entry pass from
Emma Griner to
Lexie Cooper was initially deflected, but Griner was able to head the ball right back to her teammate. Cooper somehow worked past a pair of Triton defenders, and headed to the net with a full head of steam. The Eckerd keeper took a bad angle, allowing Cooper to send it to the far side of the net to tie the game.
Rollins was by far the more aggressive team in the second half, but failed to convert on any of their three shots on goal, pushing the game to overtime.
The Tars managed one shot in the first overtime, and Eckerd responded with one in the second extra frame, but both were stopped, leading to penalty kicks.
Griner took the first attempt for the Tars and made it look easy. Eckerd answered to square up the first round. Next up was
Emma McMurry, who saw her shot touched by the keeper, but helped by the post, as it bounced in. Again, Eckerd was able to answer on their next shot.
The third round saw
Gabby Mellett stymied on a sprawling save from Madi Winn, but
Lauren Mehos brought the same energy, stopping the next shot from Amy Woodhead to keep things tight.
Cooper and Aflenza both connected in round four, leading to high drama in the final set of kicks.
To the surprise of many, Mehos stepped up to the spot for the Tars, and sent an absolute missile to the top of the net to put Rollins on top. On the ensuing attempt from Eckerd, Jillian Doerger sent a shot over the crossbar, giving Rollins the win.
The Tars dominated shots 16-9, but only had one extra shot on goal, 8-7. Mehos and Winn combined for 13 saves in the game.
This was the first time since 2004 that the #7 seed upset the #2 seed in the SSC tournament.
Next up for Rollins is a date with #3 Florida Tech on Thursday, November 13 from Melbourne. In the previous matchup between the two teams, the Panthers scored three goals in the final six minutes to stun Rollins 3-2 on September 24.
