BREVARD, N.C. - After playing to a scoreless draw through 110 minutes of action, the Brevard College women's soccer team (15-0-3) fell in a penalty-kick shootout, 3-1 to Southern Virginia University (8-8-5) in the Semifinals of the 2024 USA South Conference Women's Soccer Tournament.
The result eliminates the Tornados from the postseason and caps off the most historic, record-breaking campaign for the BC women's soccer program of its NCAA era. Brevard set a new single-season record for wins (15), won a record 11 matches in a row, and went unbeaten through 18 contests for the first time since the program was a member of the NJCAA.
The seasons cumulated with Brevard's first NCAA-era regular season championship in any sport, as the Tornados claimed the 2024 USA South Regular Season crown. Brevard became the first USA South member-institution to complete an unbeaten regular season since Piedmont went 16-0-4 in the 2017 campaign, and for their 2024 efforts the Tornados took home three major USA South Awards - Rookie of the Year (Kinlee Mozley), Goalkeeper of the Year (Abby Nunez), Coach of the Year (Juan Mascaro) - and had seven players named All-Conference.
The Tornados controlled things in the first half of play with an 8-1 shot advantage, but the Knights found an answer outshooting Brevard 6-3 in the second stanza. However, neither side broke through in 90 minutes of action, sending the contest to overtime. SVU took three shot attempts to BC's one in the first 10-minute segment, while both sides took a pair of shots in the second overtime period. With 110 minutes of scoreless action complete, the Tornados and Knights were bound for a PK shootout.
SVU's Audrey McKeon knocked in the first attempt for the visitors, while Brevard matched her up as Elis Diniz converted her spot attempt. A Knight miss left the door open for Brevard, but the Tornados could not capitalize as BC missed three shots in a row while SVU's Maybel Harris and Matia Murray converted theirs to book the Knights' ticket to the USA South Conference Championship in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Despite the elimination, Wednesday marked Brevard's 12th shutout of the 2024 season.
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