HIGH POINT, N.C. – Junior
Justine Dugger's (Purcellville, Va.) goal 1:32 into the second half lifted No. 2 Radford to a 2-1 win over No. 3 VMI in the semifinals of the Big South Conference Women's Soccer Tournament on Friday evening.
The decisive goal for the Highlanders (13-1-6) came when senior
McKenzie Vergara (Chester, Va.) found Dugger, whose open blast from 22 yards away went in to the upper right corner of the net and put Radford ahead to stay.
The Highlanders will face No. 1 Coastal Carolina, 1-0 winner of tonight's semifinal contest against host and No. 5 High Point., in the Big South Championship Game on Sunday at 2 p.m. It will be Radford's first appearance since 2002 and third overall in the Championship game.
In the second half, Radford dictated the tempo: the Highlanders took 11 shots and earned four corner kicks to hold back the Keydets (10-10-1).
"We started the game off a little bit slow," head coach
Ben Sohrabi said. "I thought in the second half, we played as good as we've played all season but just didn't finish a few."
In the 64th minute, VMI had a chance to tie things up when Amanda Berrios got loose in the box, dribbled left, and fired a high shot at Radford freshman goalkeeper
Lisa Lubke (Columbus, Ohio), who reached up and made the save to preserve the lead.
Lubke finished the game with six saves.
The Keydets struck first in the 26th minute, when Chrissy Beach flung a pass from the endline that found Olivia Moore, who headed the ball in to give VMI the early lead.
Radford answered just four minutes later, when senior
Laura Culver (Fairfax, Va.) launched a shot from 24 yards out that sailed just underneath the crossbar, tying the game at one.
"I want to give a lot of credit to VMI," Sohrabi said. "It is the best they have ever played against us. I thought they worked hard, were well organized and their coach did a great job of getting them ready for this game. They have had a great season and congrats to them.
"It was a great Big South match and we are now looking forward to the Final."
