WASHINGTON – Senior
Bianca Anghelache scored the game-winning goal in a penalty-kick shootout and the Drew University women's soccer team upset top-seeded Catholic University in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference Championship tournament Wednesday evening.
After the two sides played to a 0-0 tie in regulation, neither team scored in the two 10-minute overtime periods before the fourth-seeded Rangers (6-3-9) won the shootout 4-2.
Drew will now visit second-seeded University of Scranton – a 2-0 winner over sixth-seeded Susquehanna University in the other semifinal – on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Rangers will be making their fourth Landmark championship game appearance and their first since 2022.
Senior
Sarah Crowley made a season-high nine saves for the Rangers, who withstood a 22-shot attack from Catholic (11-3-4).
In the shootout, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead when junior
Zoey Pipher scored before Catholic's shot rang off the left post. Only the Cardinals converted in the second round, making it 1-1.
Drew clinched the match by making its final three PKs, with sophomores
Maddie Gottschling and
Riley Bent converting in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. Crowley made a crucial stop for Drew in the fourth round to give her team a 3-2 lead heading into the fifth round, when Anghelache sealed the deal for the Rangers.
The Cardinals held a 6-3 shot advantage in the opening half, when Crowley made four of her stops.
Catholic turned up the pressure in the second stanza, when it registered 12 shots, but Crowley collected three more saves in the period. The Rangers avoided danger early in the half, when Anghelache cleared a shot on goal with Crowley on the ground.
Crowley came up with perhaps her save of the night in the 75th minute, leaping to slap down a looping header following a corner kick before retrieving the ball herself off a bounce.
The Rangers held off the Cardinals over the rest of regulation, when the hosts fired seven shots down the stretch. Catholic was awarded a corner kick in the final 20 seconds and after a scramble managed to get off a good look, but it smacked off the crossbar again.
In overtime, Drew came up with another defensive stop. Crowley leaped high to bat down a shot from deep on the right side before a rebound was blocked away by junior defender
Lillian Hedrick.
Each side attempted one shot in the second overtime, but neither were on frame.
