CHAMP CENTRAL

STORRS, Conn. - It took 110 minutes and a round of penalty kicks to decide the winner of the first round match between No. 3 SMU and No. 6 UCF, and the Mustangs came out the winners on Wednesday. SMU advanced 3-2 on penalty kicks and will face No. 2 Memphis on Friday.

UCF (9-8-2) took the early lead in the fifth minute. Senior Carol Rodrigues netted her 12^th goal of the season to give the Knights the 1-0 lead. The Knights would lead going in to the half.

In the 71^st minute, Claire Oates scored the equalizer for the Mustangs. The junior scored off a corner kick from Haley Thompson to record her ninth goal of the season. The goal would hold sending the match into overtime.

Both teams kept it close as neither team was able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. In the 105^th minute Hannah Fleet had a look at the goal for SMU (12-5-2) but missed wide of the net. The two overtime periods wouldn't be enough resulting in a shootout.

Carol Rodrigues and Zandy Soree netted their attempts for the Knights as did Vanessa Valadez and Allie Thornton of SMU. With the shootout tied 2-2 Catie Brown made three straight saves for the Mustangs. Claire Oates sealed the Mustang victory as she scored converted the SMU's fourth penalty kick to advance SMU into the conference semifinals.


Brown recorded four saves and allowed only one goal. SMU outshot UCF 11-8 in the match. Fleet led the all player with three shots in the match.

SMU moves on to face Memphis on Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET. As the tournament's No. 2 seed, The Tigers received a first round bye. Both semifinal matches will be aired live on the American Digital Network.