MATTHEWS, N.C. – Five days removed from perhaps the most euphoric win in the program’s 17-year Division I era, the Presbyterian College women’s soccer team will make their first-ever appearance in the Big South Tournament Semifinals on Thursday afternoon. They’ll go head-to-head with top seed USC Upstate from a neutral venue just outside Charlotte.
The Matthews SportsPlex will be the site of the conference semi’s matchup, the redo between the Blue Hose and Spartans after an exciting 2-2 tie back in September.
First touch will take place at 4:00 PM on ESPN+, with the winner advancing to the Big South Conference Championship round.
Presbyterian finds themselves in uncharted territory under the watchful eye of first-year head coach Matt Smith, who has catapulted the Blue Hose well beyond their seventh-place preseason projection. They are now 90 minutes away from toppling the #1 seed and reaching the league title match for the first time in school history.
GAMEDAY INFO – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
BIG SOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP – SEMIFINALS
No. 5 Presbyterian (7-5-5, 2-2-3) vs. No. 1 USC Upstate (8-4-4, 5-1-2)
WHERE / WHEN: SportsPlex (Matthews, N.C.) | 4:00 PM
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN 43 DAYS
- When the Blue Hose went up against USC Upstate all the way back on September 25, that was the first of seven conference meetings and the league opener for both teams.
- On that night in Martin Stadium, the two rivals saw an inconclusive ending with a 2-2 draw. After that seesaw contest, the Spartans went on to capture the Big South regular season championship for the first time ever.
- Upstate rides into the postseason with a five-match streak of either wins or ties, led by the league’s Offensive Player of the Year Dara Russo and a total of seven all-conference players.
- Both teams traded blows in their first encounter, with Upstate taking a 2-1 edge into the halftime break. Presbyterian evened up the odds just three minutes and 44 seconds into the next half, planting the seeds for the eventual tie.
- PC’s two goals were submitted by Sydney Lassiter (32:51) and Allie Williams (48:44). They became the first pair of Blue Hose freshmen since 2018 to both score their first collegiate goals on the same night.
PRESBY FINDS PK MAGIC
- Coach Smith’s gang went up against another school whom they tied with earlier in the year for their Quarterfinal clash, edging out Longwood last weekend after 110 minutes of scoreless play to win a penalty kick shootout 4-2.
- In only their third-ever Big South Tournament appearance, PC’s defense stayed sharp throughout and dodged a handful of Lancer bullets down the stretch to keep things deadlocked at nil-nil.
- The anchor of the squad as a senior goalie who has never been subbed out from the moment the season started in mid-August, Kelly Hall was the one to thrust in the game-winner as she was able to get past Big South Keeper of the Year Sara Curtis.
- Sarah Dieffenderfer, Harlan Lyons, and Lyla Chadd all turned in successful PK’s before Hall stepped up to deliver the dagger, finishing a night where she had 10 saves as well.
- Presbyterian picked a perfect night to make history, winning their first-ever match against Longwood on the road after numerous draws and publishing their inaugural postseason victory since turning D-I in 2007.
BRACKET UPDATE
- Four teams are left vying for the Big South crown, as Upstate and High Point join the party after earning a BYE that enabled them to skip the Quarterfinals.
- Second-seed HPU will meet third-seed Radford once Presby’s match with Upstate is in the bin, signifying the other half of Thursday’s Semi’s.
- The Highlanders torched sixth-seed UNC Asheville in Virginia over the weekend for a 3-0 shutout, in pursuit of a third straight conference tournament title.
MATTHEWS, N.C. – In the school’s first-ever appearance in the Big South Tournament Semifinals, the fifth-seed Presbyterian College women’s soccer team drew the short end of the stick in a stunning back-and-forth sequence against number one seed USC Upstate, dropping a 2-1 heartbreaker on Thursday evening.
It looked as if the Blue Hose would post back-to-back 90-minute ties after prevailing past fourth-seed Longwood in a PK shootout in the tournament’s opening round, with the tally at 0-0 nearing the end of regulation.
Instead, PC and the Spartans traded three haymakers in quick succession.
Junior forward Sloan Spees seemingly sent the match to overtime at 84:53 on a free kick, only for Upstate to answer right back with three minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.
Altogether, the Semifinal match saw three goals in fewer than six minutes, turning what was a defensive slugfest into a firework show in the eleventh hour.
While PC and head coach Matt Smith were unable to topple the Big South’s regular season champion, they can still hang their heads very high following a semester of drastic improvement and an optimistic view of the future.
FINAL SCORE - #1 USC Upstate, 2 - #5 Presbyterian, 1
RECORDS – Presbyterian (7-6-5) – USC Upstate (8-4-4)
LOCATION – Matthews SportsPlex (Matthews, N.C.)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Scotsmen held their own against the top seed with a second straight scoreless tally in the postseason up until the final moments.
- The two close rivals added up for seven shots in the first period, as senior keeper Kelly Hall grabbed three of her five saves in the opening half.
- Both defenses kept rejecting the other side as fatigue started to become a factor, further strengthening the possibility of OT for what would’ve been the second time in a row.
- The first 45 minutes on Thursday took an opposite turn compared to PC’s regular season meeting against Upstate, where the halftime margin was 2-1 Spartans (ultimately finishing at a two-all stalemate).
85th MINUTE STUNNER
- Presbyterian’s mentality stayed strong despite an Upstate silencer in the 81st minute that likely could’ve been the night’s only score.
- Coach Smith’s gang capitalized on a golden opportunity with less than five minutes to go, sending Spees and Lina-Marie Müller to a close-range free kick after a USC Upstate violation.
- Müller served as the decoy and threw Upstate goalie Meghan Groah off balance, allowing Spees to do the rest and curve a perfect ball over three defenders to suddenly tie things up at one apiece.
- The craziness wasn’t finished, however, as the Spartans then booted the game-winner with just over three minutes to go.
A SEASON TO REMEMBER
- Although the Blue Hose couldn’t quite complete the goal of reaching their first-ever Big South Championship game, they can still reflect positively on the heels of a season where they earned a four-win improvement from the year prior.
- Five different PC players were selected for all-conference honors, the most that the program has seen since making the jump to the Division I level in 2007.
- Last weekend, coach Smith’s crew broke a five-year postseason drought and atoned for past close tournament losses to take out Longwood in PK’s.
- In year one under Smith, Presbyterian surpassed its win count from the past three campaigns put together. The end result was a promising tournament run, and memories that will last indefinitely.
