UNION, N.J. - It took three straight wins at the end of the regular season for the Bard College women's soccer team to even qualify for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.
And after 45 minutes in the ECAC Tournament, it didn't look like the seventh-seeded Raptors belonged there. No. 2 Kean limited Bard to one measly shot in the first half, and led at the break, 1-0, on a garbage goal in the final 90 seconds of the first half.
Something had to change fast. Bard needed some magic.
"I had to be 'persuasive' at halftime," Bard coach
Bill Kelly said. "I told them they were not only representing themselves, but Bard Athletics and the Liberty League. I think it resonated with them."
Bard got the equalizer in the second half, then advanced to the ECAC Div. III Metro/Upstate semifinals by edging Kean in a penalty kick shootout. The Raptors will play No. 3 Rutgers-Newark on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Gaelic Park in the Bronx. Top seed NYU hosts both semifinals Saturday and the championship game on Sunday at noon.
In the first half, the Cougars carried possession, especially at midfield, and Bard looked a step slow. It didn't matter until the 44th minute, when senior Angie Lopez (Rahway, NJ) made it 1-0.
A corner kicked was struck on the ground diagonally and toward the top of the box. By design, two approaching strikers let the pass go. A third striker hit it into the box, and Lopez got a foot on it in front of Bard keeper
Ryan O'Connell. The ball took a hop as it headed toward the goal line, where a Bard defender whiffed on a clearing attempt, and it slowly bounded over the line. It was excrutiating.
But Bard came out flying in the second half and took charge. They needed to tie it up, and that happened in the 67th minute. Freshman
Dylan McDonald - who seems to be the common thread to all the big goals late this season - struck a long free kick into the box.
Abbey Labrecque couldn't reach it with her head, and it hit a Kean defender in the leg and bounced toward senior
Gina Lewis.
Lewis let it bounce off her thigh, then volleyed it just inside the left post, leaving Kean stunned. The Cougars' senior keeper KC Nunez (Fair Lawn, NJ) reacted as if she thought the shot was going wide.
"I think we might have been a little star struck by finally getting there," Kelly said of Bard's first-half performance. "We got into the moment and kind of froze. I challenged their pride, their honor ... everything ... and I'm glad they responded."
Bard outshot Kean 9-6 in the second half after being outshot 9-1 in the first half, but the game went to overtime. The only play of consequence in either of the five-minute overtimes was a sprawling save by O'Connell on a Kean breakway in the 109th minute. And O'Connell, a senior who was recruited as a goalie but has been playing in the field since her sophomore year, would become a huge part of the story in the shootout.
In the shootout, senior
Isabel Keddy-Hector started with a goal inside the left post, and Kean responded with similar shot, making it 1-1. Labrecque was next, and after she roofed one, O'Connell stopped a shot from Lopez to give Bard the lead, 2-1. Lopez tried to fake shooting left, and instead struck a soft chip toward the right post, and O'Connell got both hands on it.
McDonald made it 3-1 just inside the left post, and Kean scored as well, making it 3-2. That's when things got a little weird.
O'Connell took off her goalie gloves and got ready to take a PK.
"We practiced PKs (Tuesday) night and Ryan was one of our most consistent shooters," Kelly said. "We picked our five kick-takers and she was definitely one of them."
O'Connell scored high to the right side to make it 4-2, and Kean shot wide with its next attempt, kicking off the Bard celebration.
"They knew they could play harder, tougher, faster and smarter," Kelly said. "That was a good team we played. We know the kind of effort it takes to win games like this. And I'm sure we're facing another good team on Saturday."
ECAC Div. III Metro/Upstate Championships
Quarterfinals
Wednesday, Nov. 11No. 1 NYU 3, No. 8 Lehman 0
No. 3 Rutgers-Newark 4, No. 6 Ramapo 3No. 7 Bard 1, No. 2 Kean 1 (Bard advances on PKs, 4-2)
No. 5 Mount Saint Mary 2, No. 4 Stockton 1
Semifinals
Saturday, Nov. 14
Gaelic Park, Riverdale, N.Y.No. 1 NYU vs. No. 5 Mount Saint Mary, 11 a.m.
No. 3 Rutgers-Newark vs. No. 7 Bard, 2 p.m.
Championship
Sunday, Nov. 15
Gaelic Park, Riverdale, N.Y.Semifinal winners, noon
