Washington State soccer tops Tennessee in penalties to advance in NCAA Championships

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Ella Dederick made three stops in the penalty shootout to help lift Washington State to a 3-1 shootout victory over Tennessee, and into the third round of the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history on Friday.

WSU’s Maegan O’Neill, Sofia Anker-Kofoed and Jordan Branch all converted their tries from the penalty spot, while Dederick, a redshirt-junior for the Cougars, made her stops on three straight Volunteer shots to clinch the victory after the teams battled to a 2-2 tie in regulation.

The Cougars (10-7-4) opened the scoring in the 13th minute on Morgan Weaver’s seventh goal of the season, a shot from 15-yards out assisted by Maddy Haro.

The WSU lead would be short-lived though, as Tennessee (15-4-2) answered back with Danielle Marcano goals in the 20th and 30th minutes.

With time ticking down, the Cougars found the equalizer as defender Kelsee Creenshaw’s curling effort from 20-yards out knotted the score at 2-2 to force overtime.

Dederick finished with four saves, while the Cougars’ offense force Tennessee keeper Shae Yanez into six stops. WSU also took more shots (17-13) and had more corner kicks (5-4) than the Volunteers.

Washington State will now third-seeded Florida (16-6), which defeated South Florida 1-0 Friday, at 11 a.m. Sunday in Gainesville, Florida.