Women's soccer ends fairy tale season in heartbreak

Sometimes fairy tale endings end up being just that, fairy tales. Davidson women’s soccer’s remarkable 2007 campaign came to an abrupt end on Friday night when Furman’s Rachel Fry headed in a loose ball from the penalty box in the second overtime of the Southern Conference tournament semifinals.

Davidson had defeated Furman by a score of 1-0 earlier in the conference season, but the Wildcats were unable to get on the scoreboard in this matchup and lost 1-0.

The ’Cats certainly had their chances to put the match away in regulation. Kyri Bye-Nagel ’10 had several excellent opportunities to score but she missed on all counts. The first two came in the second half when her header off a Nancy Haskell ’08 corner kick went wide. Just four minutes later, Bye-Nagel had another excellent opportunity but her shot on goal went high and deflected off the crossbar.

The best and final Davidson opportunity came in the second overtime when Bye-Nagel found herself in a one-on-one situation with the Furman goalie. Bye-Nagel, who was voted All-SoCon first team earlier in the week, struck her shot directly at the Paladin keeper who was able to make the game-saving stop.

The Paladins game-winning goal came as time ticked down in the second overtime and the game seemed to be heading to penalty kicks. Furman kicked a cross into the box with 10 seconds remaining and both teams scrummed for the loose ball in front of the goal. As the ball popped up in the air, Fry was able to connect with her head and send it to the corner of the goal with a mere 2.2 seconds remaining on the clock.

The game was the last contest for seniors Haskell, Bevin English ’08 and Kristen Koehrn ’08. Haskell had been honored with All-SoCon first team honors, while English and Suzanne Sittko ’10 were selected to the second team. The senior trio finish their careers as the all-time winningest class in Davidson women’s soccer history with an overall record of 51-26-6.