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LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The No. 2-seeded University of Utah soccer team (11-8-2) defeated No. 3 seed TCU (13-3-2) in the Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals Thursday by a 2-1 score on a TCU own-goal in the first minute of overtime. Utah will now face the winner of the second semifinal between BYU and UNLV in Saturday's MWC Championship match, broadcast live on the mtn. at 1 p.m. MT from Johann Field in Las Vegas.
On the opening possession in overtime, sophomore forward Lauren Hair (Alpine, Utah) received a pass on the left side and took it to the endline. She then crossed it through the TCU penalty box where a Horned Frog defender, positioned in front of the goal, stuck out her leg in an attempt to block the cross. Instead, the ball deflected off her shin and past TCU goalkeeper Kelsey Walters just 25 seconds into overtime, giving Utah the game-winning goal.
Winning the overtime coin toss, Utah earned the first possession in extra time. The kickoff was tapped to junior midfielder Kelly Isleib (Park City, Utah) who dribbled all the way from midfield to the top right corner of the TCU penalty box. She then played the ball back to the middle to senior forward Katy Reineke (Salt Lake City), who in turn passed it to Hair, setting up the play that propelled Utah into the finals.
Utah controlled much of the run of play for most of the game but struggled to score until Reineke broke the 0-0 stalemate in the 63rd minute. Hair had been fouled by a TCU defender in the box, earning the Utes a penalty kick. Reineke, who was 1-of-2 in the regular season in penalty tries, stepped up and buried the spot kick in the left-hand side to put Utah up 1-0. Incidentally, it was also Reineke's birthday.
With just 1:44 left in the contest, TCU pulled even as Lizzy Karoly found the back of the net on a volley from about 15 yards out. Walters knocked a long clearance into the Utah half of the field, finding Caroline Starns, who knocked it forward. Starns' pass found Katie Taylor, who flicked it with her head over the Utes' back line and into the path of the streaking Karoly, who one-timed it into the bottom left corner to make it 1-1 and eventually force overtime.
Utah now awaits the winner of No. 1-seeded BYU and No. 4-seeded UNLV, playing in the second semifinal of the day. The Utes topped UNLV in the regular-season, 3-1, but fell to BYU, 5-0. The conference tournament champion will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
