DENTON, Texas – For a second straight season, the Louisiana Tech soccer team had its season come to an end via a penalty kick shootout, falling to the No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic in the Conference USA Tournament quarterfinals on Wednesday at North Texas Soccer Stadium.
 
Behind a brilliant defensive performance by goalkeeper Carlotta Cartelli and Co., the Lady Techsters and Owls were scoreless after 110 minutes and needed PKs to decide who would advance to the semifinals.
 
Both squads netted their first two attempts, but LA Tech (13-4-3) missed two of its last three attempts while FAU (14-3-2) found the back of the net on all four of its attempts.
 
"We came into the tournament as big underdogs going up against the No. 1 seed," said head coach Kevin Sherry.  "We fought hard all the way to the end, just like we have done all season long.  Penalty kicks is always the harshest way to go out, but we must embrace the achievement of pushing FAU all the way.
 
"It was a very successful season and we should all be extremely proud of what we achieved.  A big thank you to our seniors.  We will regroup and get ready to go again for next season."
 
The Lady Techsters nearly got on the scoreboard in the early minutes as Jaelyn Peeples sent a classic long ball to Autumn Woodard who got behind the back line, but her shot attempt was stopped by the opposing keeper on the 1v1 opportunity.
 
The conference's leading goal-scorer had another attempt in the 27th minute when she took a turn to find space and sent a dart at goal, but the shot from 25 yards out went just over the crossbar.  And in the 62nd minute, Woodard did find the back of the net with a perfect chip over the keeper, but she was whistled for a questionable offside.    
 
Aside from those scoring chances, LA Tech had to stand tall defensively against the high-powered FAU offense.  The Owls only had seven shot attempts in the first half with three of those coming on goal, but Cartelli responded with three saves.
 
In the second half, the top seed ramped it up and attempted 14 shots to go along with seven corner kicks.  It did not matter as the Owls could not score and a big reason for that was Cartelli who produced save after save after save. 
 
The senior ended up tying her career high with 11 saves, three of those coming in the two 10-minute OT periods to force the match to be decided with PKs.
 
Gabrielle Parent and Christina Hjelvik, neither of which had played in the match, stepped up and connected on the Lady Techsters first two attempts.  However, Jaelyn Peeples had her attempt stopped in round three and Elizabeth Doll's shot in round five banged off the crossbar. 
 
It marked just the third time that the Owls, who had a top-40 RPI, had been shut out all season.  Two of those were by the Lady Techsters who shut them out during the regular season in a 1-0 overtime win.
 
Eight of the 11 starters played the entire 110 minutes for LA Tech.
 
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