Having won two straight games to keep its postseason hopes alive, the University of South Carolina Beaufort women's soccer team needed one more victory Sunday to qualify for the Sun Conference Tournament. The only obstacle was a St. Thomas team that had outscored the Sand Sharks 20-0 in three all-time meetings.
But the Sand Sharks were not intimidated, taking control early and withstanding a rally from the visiting Bobcats to earn a 3-2 victory as USCB gave five seniors — DeAngelus Anderson, Megan Atkinson, Fred Gallman, Steph Moldenhauer and Chelsie Mummert — a memorable sendoff in their final game at Fin Land Field.
Junior Alexandria Radue and freshmen Karen Pimentel and Hayley Pina each tallied a goal and an assist and senior Chelsie Mummert made 11 saves as USCB (7-10, 3-6 TSC) stunned the Bobcats (7-8-1, 3-6) to forge a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots. The Sun Conference competition committee was reviewing the tiebreaker procedure Sunday night, but USCB appears to be in line for a spot in the tournament, either as the No. 6 or No. 7 seed with a road game at Thomas or SCAD Savannah in the quarterfinals. An official announcement is expected by Monday.
"This team made me proud today," USCB coach Ed Heberling said. "They came out like I have never seen before and pressured St. Thomas so much. We created so many opportunities and kept the pressure on for the first 20 minutes."
The Sand Sharks opened the scoring in the 19th minute, when Radue played a long ball up the right side to Pimentel, who drilled a shot past goalkeeper Cristina Garwacki. USCB made it 2-0 less than a minute later, as Pina set up Radue with a one-on-one opportunity and she got past Garwacki for an easy finish.
The Bobcats answered the bell and got on the board in the 26th minute with Sharon Tejeda scoring off an assist from Sarah Thomsson, and Thomsson set up another goal in 44th minute, as she made a cross from the left for Michelle Baily, who sent it past Mummert with a nice right-footed shot.
USCB thought it had regained the lead before halftime, as Shannon Blair redirected a Mandy Preciado corner kick into the goal, but it was ruled the ball did not cross the goal line before the horn and the goal was waved off. Nonetheless, the Sand Sharks put the third goal on the board in the 54th minute, when Pimentel played the ball ahead to Pina, who settled it and blasted a shot past a diving Garwacki.
"Our goal opening the second half was big for our confidence," Heberling said. "We needed that after they answered our two early goals and really took the momentum going into halftime."
The Bobcats had their best chance at an equalizer less than five minutes later, but Mummert made a diving save to her right on a blistering shot by Thomsson, and the Sand Sharks' back line shut down several potential scoring opportunities as USCB shut out St. Thomas in the second half.
"This was a great way to celebrate our seniors," Heberling said. "This shows how far we've come. We're a different team than we were even a few weeks ago, and I'm excited to see what we can do in the playoffs."
