Soccer can be a cruel game.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s team realized that Wednesday night, losing a 3-2 penalty-kick shootout to Virginia Military Institute in a Southern Conference tournament game at Finley Stadium. The shootout went seven rounds after a scoreless regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods.
UTC ends the season 4-13-2, while VMI improves to 7-12-1 and travels again to face Samford in the quarterfinals Saturday night at 8.
The Mocs took a 2-0 lead three rounds into the shootout after makes by McKenzie Gregg and Skylar Brewer. The Keydets answered with goals on their fourth and fifth attempts, by Amy Horney and goalkeeper Darien Dunham.
Both Dunham and UTC goalkeeper Lauren Thomas stopped the sixth attempts, but VMI’s Demetra Protogyrou made her attempt and Peyton McCollum’s attempt was saved.
“I told the team they’ve got nothing to hang their heads about,” first-year UTC coach Gavin McKinney said. “Some of the best players in the world miss penalty kicks. We were in a really good situation after they missed their first two, but that’s just the game sometimes.”
The eighth-seeded Mocs dominated possession for most of the match, with a 9-4 edge in shots on goal. Both teams had penalty-kick attempts in regulation, with Thomas saving an attempt by Syndie Bligh in the 16th minute and Dunham blocking a McCollum try in the 25th.
Dunham had six of her nine saves in the first half, keeping the ninth-seeded Keydets in the game against the Mocs’ relentless pressure.
“I thought she was fantastic,” McKinney said of the Boston College transfer. “She made several big saves. Things didn’t go to plan when creating opportunities – that last bit of quality wasn’t there for us – but she made a few big saves that not many in our conference could make.”
The Mocs lose eight seniors from this team.
“Even though it didn’t go our way, we’re still together and we’re still a good team,” Thomas said. “This team is only going up from here. It’s Gavin’s first season as a head coach and it is so much better. Anyone will tell you it’s a lot better soccer.
“It’s just so heartbreaking that it had to come down to PKs in my last game on this field.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.