Women's soccer Big 12 tournament-bound after victory

By Joel Petterson

Monday, November 2, 2009

San Antonio, Texas — Kansas earned a spot in the Big 12 Tournament in dramatic fashion after defeating Texas Tech in a play-in Game Monday night.

After regulation time and two overtime periods, the score remained 1-1. In the ensuing penalty kick shoot-out, Kansas edged Texas Tech 5-4 as freshman goalkeeper Kat Liebtrau saved Texas Tech’s final shot.

“It was just amazing, everyone was so excited,” Liebetrau said.

The victory means Kansas will claim the No. 8 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and face Missouri Wednesday for the second time in under a week.

Kansas jumped in front in the 20th minute when freshman Whitney Berry headed home a cross from senior Monica Dolinsky. But just 30 seconds later, Texas Tech equalized on a 25-yard blast from freshman midfielder Tiffini Smith.

The game remained scoreless through the rest of regulation. Liebetrau came up huge with five saves in the second half to keep the Lady Raiders out of the Kansas goal.

“We kept really organized in the back with our communication,” Liebtrau said. "I was really proud of the back line and my whole team.”

In overtime, neither team could beat the other’s stingy defense. Dolinsky hit the crossbar for the Jayhawks, but nothing found the back of the net.

So the game advanced to a penalty shootout, the first Kansas had faced since a shoot-out loss to Missouri in last year’s Big 12 Tournament.

Neither team missed through the first nine shots. Then Liebetrau stopped Texas Tech sophomore Maggie Fete’s penalty kick to give Kansas the victory.

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