Termine » ng a step further in tipping the Hammers

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Senior striker Sophie Groff converted a penalty kick in the 74th minute to lift No. 1 seed South Carolina womens soccer to a 1-0 win over 20th-ranked Colorado in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night at Stone Stadium. The victory gave the No. 3 ranked Gamecocks (20-1-1) their most wins in a season ever and advanced them to the NCAA Tournament third round for the third time in school history. Colorado ends its 2016 campaign at 15-6-1 following the loss.Groffs game-winner came after she was taken down in the box trying to collect a cross from senior forward Daija Griffin from the right side. Colorado goalkeeper Jalen Tompkins charged into Groff and knocked her down to set up the ensuing attempt from 12 yards out. Groff, who opened the NCAA Tournament with a multi-goal match last Friday, saw Tompkins dive right and calmly slipped the ball into the left side of the net. The goal marked her second successful penalty kick of the season.Carolina, which put six shots on frame Thursday, nearly opened the scoring on two separate occasions in the first half. In the 17th minute, senior midfielder Chelsea Drennans corner kick located senior center back Paige Bendell deep inside the box. Bendell drilled a header towards net that deflected off Groff before being cleared off the line by a Colorado defender. The Gamecocks almost broke through in the 35th minute when Griffin rifled a shot from the left side of the box that was knocked away by Tompkins. The deflection created a dangerous loose ball, and Tompkins was able to punch it away again before a charging Groff could tap it in.The Gamecocks bid for a goal fell just shot again in the 50th minute when junior forward Savannah McCaskill raced to the ball and sent a diving cross into the box. Her delivery found Drennan, who one-timed a shot that missed just left. Less than 10 minutes after Groffs goal, McCaskill nearly doubled the advantage after sending a header wide left following a Carolina corner kick.Colorados best chance of the night came in the 55th minute when Buffalo forward Emily Bruder evaded the defense and found herself one-on-one with Gamecock goalkeeper Mikayla Krzeczowski. Krzeczowski charged off her line and used her leg to turn the shot away before Carolina center back Kaleigh Kurtz cleared the danger.The Gamecocks finished the match with a 15-9 shot advantage and attempted five corner kicks. Colorado put five attempts on target and totaled four corner kicks throughout the contest. Krzeczowski tallied five saves to earn her 10th shutout of the year and improve to 17-1-1 in 2016.QUOTABLEIm so proud of this team and what theyve done all year. I keep saying, you dont really understand what youve done until you can reflect upon it. Were all so focused on the run and meeting our own expectations of doing well. This team has shown all year (that) they find a way to win and they can play against the best. - South Carolina womens soccer coach Shelley SmithGAMECHANGERSenior forward Sophie Groff clinched the victory for the Gamecocks with her penalty kick in the 74th minute. The tally was the 10th career game-winning goal for the Grapevine, Texas, native.KEY STATThe Gamecocks limited the Buffaloes to just two shots on goal in the second half. Only four Colorado players registered a shot on the night.NOTABLESouth Carolina has reached the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three years. Senior striker Sophie Groffs nine career points (4G, 1A) in NCAA Tournament play are the most by a Gamecock ever. The Gamecocks are 4-of-5 on penalty attempts this season. Groff and senior midfielder Chelsea Drennan have both made two penalty shots on the year. South Carolinas 13 shutouts this fall are two shy of the programs single-season record. The Gamecocks have allowed just three goals at home in 2016. UP NEXTSouth Carolina faces No. 4 seed BYU in NCAA Tournament third round action Saturday at Stone Stadium. The fourth-ranked Cougars downed 25th-ranked Oklahoma 2-1 in Columbia earlier Thursday. Kickoff this weekend is slated for 7 p.m. ET. Jerseys NFL Wholesale . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. http://www.nfljerseyschina.net/ . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Stitched Jerseys . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . He just needed to be his best twisting, turning acrobatic self. "I didnt need to be anybody else, I just needed to be myself and be aggressive," said Burks, who scored a career-high 34 points to spark the Utah Jazz to a 118-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.The Soccer Saturday pundits are expecting West Ham to inflict a blow to Tottenhams title hopes in Wednesday nights London derby. Spurs title odds are currently the shortest theyve been in Premier League history as Sky Bet give them a 6/4 chance with 11 games to go.Tottenham pulled three points clear of third-place Arsenal on Sunday, coming from behind to beat Swansea 2-1, while their North London neighbours lost 3-2 at Manchester United. Charlie predicts... Follow Charlies tip for a 2-2 draw at 14/1 here. Mauricio Pochettinos side could go top if they win on Wednesday - but the Soccer Saturday panel are all backing points for West Ham in their Sky Bet tips and expect the Gunners to reduce the gap with a victory over Swansea at the Emirates. Harry Kane scored twice in a 4-1 Spurs win back at White Hart Lane Charlie Nicholas told Sky Sports: West Ham would love nothing more than to dent Tottenhams title aspirations and they will be greeted by a really aggressive atmosphere in east London.Their players thrive on these big games, as they have shown with victories at Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool, and then again when Chelsea came to visit. Slaven Bilic has praised Mauricio Pochettino for his work at Tottenham. Spurs will go top of the Premier League if they beat West Ham. These are the types of matches where you really need to compete physically and while Pochettinos side have shown they can do that, I still worry about them in the final 15 to 20 minutes of games.Im expecting a lot of tension and plenty of goals and I wouldnt be surprised tto see things boil over and somebody being sent off.dddddddddddd Diafra Sakho and Kyle Walker were both booked in a heated reverse fixture Paul Merson is backing a 1-1 draw in his midweek predictions and Matt Le Tissier is going a step further in tipping the Hammers to cause an upset. The Southampton legend said: The pressure is starting to crank up a little bit now and with 11 games to go you do start seeing your objectives a bit clearer.The worrying thing for Spurs is that Pochettinos Southampton side tended to tail off at the end of it, and Im not sure if that was because of the way he demanded so much from his players. Hammers to sink Spurs? Matt Le Tissier is backing West Ham to win 2-1 and Payet to score first here. However, Nicholas admits Spurs have got themselves into such a strong position that it is not essential for them to beat both the Hammers and Arsenal this week.He added: In a strange way, they can almost afford a slip-up in one of their upcoming London derbies with the position theyre in and Leicester will drop points.My concern about both Leicester and Spurs was the way they were relying on the same players so much but fair play to Pochettino and Ranieri, they made changes that won them games at the weekend. Tottenham fans are increasingly confident theyll win the Premier League Also See: Spurs family fires up poch West Ham v Spurs preview Poch: Were not favourites Team of the season so far ' ' '