Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Senior Taylor Parrish scored Barton College's final two goals, including the game-winner with 1:37 left in the second overtime session, as the Lady Bulldogs outlasted King University, 3-2, in Conference Carolinas women's soccer action on a Homecoming Saturday at the Barton Outdoor Athletic Complex.
Barton is now 4-0 in overtime games this season. Parrish has scored the golden goal in three of them, and provided the assist in the fourth one.
With Saturday's win, Barton improved to 11-5 overall and 5-3 in the league. The loss dropped King to 4-9-2 overall and 1-4-2 in conference play.
Parrish recorded her second multi-goal game of the year and the fifth of her career. The goals were the first for the Smithfield, N.C., resident since she was sidelined for three games in mid-October with an injury. Parrish now has seven goals on the season.
The golden goal was set up when Kasey Byzewski served a ball near the top of the box for Jodi Barber, who flipped a pass backward over her shoulder while being marked to Parrish along the left post. Parrish pushed the ball into the right-hand corner of the net, giving Barton a come-from-behind victory.
Barber recorded her league-leading eight assist on the play, while Byzewski collected her sixth helper.
The Lady Bulldogs had trailed for much of the game, but tied the match in the 69th minute when Adrianna Jimenez fired a volley from midfield into the box, which Parrish collected and then beat King's substitute keeper, Morgan Lawson,, to knot the match at 2-all. The assist was the first of the year for Jimenez, who also had the helper in Barton's 1-0 win over the Tornado last year.
Barton jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just 2:58 into Saturday's match, as Parrish passed the ball from the middle of the box out to the right wing, where Kathryn Smith laced a shot past King's starting keeper, Nicole Dagher.
However, it only took the Tornado 10 minutes to tie the match again at 1-all. A serve from Lindsay Curtis into the box drew Barton keeper Carson Moore out of the net and took a big bounce past several Barton defenders, leaving Rachel Thorpe with an opening to the goal. Thorpe, King's leading scorer, took advantage, putting the ball just inside the left post for her ninth score of the season. The assist was the third of the year for Curtis.
With just under eight minutes left in the half, Thorpe struck again. Taking a pass from Devon Shanklin on the King side near midfield, Thorpe dribbled forward as the Barton defense retreated into position. However, no one ever came to challenge Thorpe, and she fired a perfect shot from 25 to 30 yards out over the head of Moore and under the crossbar to give the Tornado a 2-1 advantage.
The goal, Thorpe's 10th of the year, tied her for the conference lead. The assist was Shanklin's team-high fourth.
Both teams had numerous opportunities in the match, particularly Barton, which had 26 total shots and 16 on goal.
Dagher saved five for King in the first 30 minutes of the game alone, but had to leave the game at that point after colliding with both her own defender and Barton's Barber while going for a ball.
Lawson added eight more saves in nearly 78 minutes of relief work in goal for the Tornado, including three in the two overtime sessions before Parrish broke through with the winner for the Lady Bulldogs.
King took 14 shots in the contest, nine of those on goal, and Moore had seven saves. However, the Tornado did not have an attempt in either overtime period or the final 11 minutes of regulation.
Barton's win, coupled with a loss by Converse on Saturday, helped the fourth-place Lady Bulldogs open up a game-and-a-half lead over the fifth-place Valkyries. Converse will host King on Wednesday, then visit Wilson next Saturday night to face Barton in the final regular-season game of the year.
The top four teams in the standings get to host a first-round game in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Tournament. Saturday's win gave Barton a 6-1 record at home this year.
Before hosting Converse next weekend, the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Murfreesboro, N.C., for a non-conference matchup with Chowan University on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
