TicketsSept. 16, 2011
CHICAGO -Sophomore forward Jazmine Rhodes (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Polytechnic) scored a goal in double overtime for the second consecutive week, lifting the University of Cincinnati women's soccer team to a 1-0 win over DePaul University on Friday at Wish Field.
In the 108th minute, senior midfielder Logan Ballinger (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) passed the ball to senior forward Emily Hebbeler (Park Hills, Ky./Notre Dame Academy), who slipped the ball down the right side of the field to Rhodes, who dribbled within 10 yards of the goal and nailed a shot to the left corner past DPU goalkeeper Claire Hanold.
The game-winner in double-overtime was Rhodes' second in as many weeks. She scored in the 101st minute against College of Charleston on Sept. 9 in South Carolina.
Freshman goalkeeper Kristina Utley (Castro Valley, Calif./Castro Valley) played one of her best matches of the season after collecting seven saves, many of which were diving stops.
Utley made an excellent diving save in the 44th minute of the first half, when DPU senior forward Morgan Celaya hooked a shot from the right side of the box. Utley dove to her right and caught the shot in stride to prevent a potential go-ahead score.
The Bearcats and Blue Demons played a physical match, with each team combining for 30 fouls.
After playing a mostly defensive first half, Cincinnati turned up the offensive pressure in the second half. After taking 16 minutes before attempting a shot in the first half, Hebbeler took UC's second shot of the match in the 48th minute from the left side of the box, but the attempt went wide right.
Fresh off BIG EAST Rookie of the Week honors, freshman forward Mackenzie Grause (Ft. Thomas, Ky./Highlands) continued her aggressive play, taking a team-high four shots.
The Bearcats had multiple opportunities to end the game earlier in the match. In the 94th minute, Grause receive the ball on a breakaway, but her shot was deflected and went high. In the 97th minute, she had another shot attempt that sailed high. In the 86th minute, Pawelko took a cross from Rhodes on the right side of the box, but her shot sailed over the post.
Cincinnati was outshot 19-9 after implementing a defensive-oriented game plan for most of the match, which put a lot of responsibility on the UC backline of Erin Kaufman (Wayland, Mass./Wayland), Kate Schmidt (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview), Kelli Pawelko (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) and Jae Atkinson (Mason, Ohio/Mason).
DePaul held possession for the majority of the first half. The Blue Demons out-shot Cincinnati 7-1 in the first 45 minutes and took four corner kicks while UC did not attempt any.
The Bearcats' lone shot of the first half occurred in the 16th minute, when Grause launched an attempt from the top left corner of the box, but the shot was blocked by a nearby defender.
Cincinnati's defense held up in the first half. Out of four DePaul corner kicks, the Blue Demons were able to generate just one shot.
UC will play No. 12 University of Notre Dame, which fell to University of Louisville 1-0 Friday, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Gettler Stadium.