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USA South Tournament Central


MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The Averett women's soccer team made history by advancing to the USA South Conference championship game for the first time program history following Friday night's 2-1 upset win over No. 2 seed Meredith College at the Smith River Sports Complex.

Averett (13-6) will face No. 1 seed Christopher Newport University on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the USA South's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The sixth-seeded Cougars struck first when freshman Maliha Ataullah scored off a Ringa Remes corner kick in the 21st minute. A little more than 20 minutes later, freshman Johanna Ingebrigtsen found fellow first-year player Annika Rindestedt just in front of the Avenging Angels goal. Rindestedt snuck the ball past Meredith goalie Kelsey Hopper to give Averett a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half.

Meredith's Eliza Evans cut the Cougars lead in half in 51st minute when she scored an unassisted goal.  However, the Averett defense, led by junior goalie Samantha Lupo's 11 saves, thwarted a second half Meredith charge that took six shots on the Cougars' goal.

In the process, the Cougars avenged a 3-0 loss at Meredith earlier this season.

Averett's only other conference tournament semifinal appearance came in a 5-1 loss to Methodist in 2006. The Cougars also became the lowest seed to advance to the conference championship game since the USA South began playing the tournament in 2000.