MATTHEWS, N.C. – No. 4 seed Gardner-Webb defeated No. 1 seed Campbell in penalty kicks Thursday night from the Matthews Sportsplex to advance to the Big South Championship for the first time since 2018.
On a night where Campbell out-shot Gardner-Webb, 21-12, each team was only able to find the back of the net once through 110 minutes of play. The Camels struck first in the 40th minute, with Jackie Richards finding Cazzi Norgren to put Campbell on top 1-0.
Midway through the second half, Carina Leal bended in a corner kick to tie the scoring at 1-1. Leal's goal would cap the scoring for regular time and both overtime periods.
The match then turned to penalty kicks to decide a winner and the results were as follows:
Campbell – Made (Jessica Donald)
GWU – Missed (Marina Bradic)
Campbell – Made (Jackie Richards)
GWU – Made (Maddie Turlington)
Campbell – Missed (Delaney Baumbick)
GWU – Made (Alli Varga)
Campbell – Missed (Kaleigh Backlund)
GWU – Made (Lea Gossett)
Campbell – Missed (Cazzi Norgren)
GWU – Made (Klara Ovefelt)
"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said head coach Mike Varga. "I thought it was a total team effort, and we did an excellent job of sticking to our gameplan against an incredibly talented Campbell squad."
Reigning freshman of the week, Chloe Leffler, faced 21 shots and posted six saves in the match. Gardner-Webb then turned to Paula Suarez Is to defend the penalties.
"Chloe came up big in the goal and our back line defended well," said Varga. "The midfielders did their job and all the way up to the front line. It really was the most complete defensive effort we have had all year."
Gardner-Webb will face No. 3 Radford in Sunday's title match, marking the third meeting between the squads for the league crown since 2018.