University of Georgia
Arkansas
Georgia Soccer Advances In Penalty Kick Thriller
November 03, 2014 | Soccer
Highlights and comments from head coach Steve Holeman and a few players after Monday night's magical win.
Nov. 3, 2014
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. --- The eighth-seeded Georgia soccer team drew 1-1 with ninth-seeded Arkansas through 110 minutes Monday night in Orange Beach, before a sixth-year senior and a goalkeeper playing her first minutes of college action led the Bulldogs over the Razorbacks via a penalty kick shootout. Georgia moves on to the quarterfinals of the SEC Championships on Wednesday, set to take on the No. 1 seed Texas A&M at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
Georgia scored first Monday night on a Rachel Garcia chance that hit the crossbar and bounced in with 23 minutes to play, before the Bulldogs conceded the equalizer in the 89th minute to force overtime. After both teams failed to score through two extra periods, it would be Georgia to pull through 4-3 on penalties and advance to the next round.
Georgia is now 10-6-2 on the season.
"Maybe I jinxed it, because I told the staff yesterday we weren't going to penalty kicks," said head coach Steve Holeman. "I have a lot of faith in my assistant coaches and credit to Stefani Workman who trains our keepers. After working on PKs yesterday, she told me that if we went to penalties that [Morgan Orobello] would be the keeper. As we got into double overtime and it looked like that's where it was headed, she came to me to confirm and I told her it was her call. To put it into perspective, that was Morgan's first minute of college soccer. What a great moment for her, and she came up huge."
"It doesn't happen often that you get to dogpile," Holeman said. "I'm proud of the girls and they're effort. They fought for 110 minutes and I'm just excited they got the win."
Georgia took a 1-0 lead in the shootout when the redshirt freshman goalkeeper Orobello made a save on Arkansas' first attempt after coming in to relieve the starter Louise Hogrell, then Garcia made her shot to complete round one. After the Razorbacks made their second shot, Gabby Seiler then made hers, making it 2-1 in favor of Georgia. Orobello then made her second save to deny the third Arkansas chance, but Delaney Fechalos' shot was also saved for Georgia as it stood 2-1 through three rounds. Arkansas would make its fourth shot, and so did the Bulldogs, as Marion Crowder made hers. That brought up the fifth and final round with Georgia leading 3-2. The Razorbacks made their shot, bringing up sixth-year senior Laura Eddy with the opportunity to put it away, and she did, striking it past the keeper to wrap it up at 4-3, sending the Bulldogs through.
It was Georgia's first penalty kick game since 1999 and third in program history.
"I was nervous until they scored their goal and then when I stepped out there I wasn't anxious like I usually am," Orobello said. "It felt good [to get those saves]. I'm happy I got there. And I knew Laura would make her shot. I was pumped. We all came through for each other. It feels great."
The Bulldogs will face the SEC regular season champion Aggies Wednesday in quarterfinal action at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on the SEC Network, with live audio coverage on Georgiadogs.com.
