Bellingham, Wash.--- Making their first appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships since 2002, it was the SF State Gators losing 2-1 to the CSU Dominguez Hills Toros (14-9) this evening in the First Round of the 2008 NCAA Division II Soccer Championships at Orca Field in Bellingham, Washington. The Gators finished the season with a 12-7-3 overall record, which ties for the school record for wins in a season.

            “It was a hard fought game,” said SF State Head Coach Jack Hyde. “We played well from being a goal down in the first half.” The Toros scored on an unfortunate goal late in the game,” added Hyde. “We had a great season and I am very proud of our team.”

            The game was scoreless for the first 20 minutes until Jessica Murphy connected on a long ball from MaKenzie Pedrotti to give the Toros the early 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 going into half. SF State came out and controlled the second half and tied the game at 1-1 at the 66:10 mark, when

connected on her first goal of the season on a tap in that came from a long ball from Sarah Whelan. 

            Murphy scored her second goal of the game and 14of the season, in what proved to be the game-winner off a serve from Yvonne Vasquez with eight minutes left in the game to give the Toros a 2-1 lead.

            Each team recorded 11 shots attempts and four shot on goal attempts. Alyssa Congdon recorded three saves in goal for the Toros while Emily Hart had two saves in goal for SF State. The Toros will now play the number one seed, Western Washington University Vikings this Sunday afternoon at 1pm at Orca Field, in Bellingham, Washington. The winner of that game will advance to the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships quarterfinals on Friday, November 21 at the site of the highest remaining seed in the South Central Region. The winner of the CSU Dominguez Hills–Western Washington game will face either UC San Diego or Seattle Pacific on the 21.
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