Allison Mallams separated from the defense, as she had done literally and figuratively throughout the match, and bore down on the Florida net with only the goalkeeper to beat.

The fans roared with anticipation. If she scores, she sends Marquette back to the NCAA round of 16. If she misses, sudden-death overtime resumes.

"I was holding my breath on that one because I was sure we had given it away at that point," Florida head coach Becky Burleigh said.

The junior forward had tormented the Gator defense for so long that it was fitting she would have the chance to decide the outcome. She had made the difficult look easy as she smoothly turned off Florida defenders to start numerous Marquette counter-attacks.

In the 94th minute, all Mallams had to do was cap off her brilliant all-around performance with a simple finish to upset the No. 3 seed in the bracket.

"It was our best chance," Marquette head coach Markus Roeders said.

Mallams shot wide.

After a 0-0 tie through 110 minutes of Sunday's NCAA second round match at Valley Fields, Florida advanced by winning a penalty kick shootout 4-3. Ansley Myrick scored the winning goal in the shootout after Florida goalkeeper Brittni Goodwin saved a shot by Marquette junior Christy Zwolski.

Aside from Mallams' miss, the Gators had more possession and created two scoring chances from set pieces in overtime. In the 98th minute, Florida's Stacy Bishop fired a 20-yard free kick through the Marquette wall, but junior goalkeeper Laura Boyer made a diving save. Boyer watched the ball sail into the net on a corner kick header in the closing seconds of overtime, but the referee called a foul and disallowed the goal.

That was not the only time the official made a crucial decision in overtime. He issued Marquette senior midfielder Lauren Weber her second yellow card in the 109th minute, ejecting her from what turned out to be her final collegiate game.

Florida might have felt Weber's sending off evened the numbers on the field because Mallams, who completed her first season with Marquette after transferring from William Jewell (an NAIA school), seemed to do the work of two players.

"I can't believe she played in the NAIA. I coached in the NAIA," said Burleigh, who won NAIA titles at Berry (Ga.) College in 1990 and 1993. "If she had played in the NAIA, she would have racked up like 100 goals in 20 games. Every time she got the ball we wanted to double-team her because we knew she was dangerous."

Sometimes the Gators needed three or four defenders. Florida's speedy Ashley Harris started on the right wing and finished as a left fullback to keep pace with Mallams, and even that strategy did not always work.

"We thought there were some vulnerabilities in the backline, and we could get in behind them," Roeders said.

Both defenses held out, though, to force a tension-packed shootout.

Well, it was not tense for Marquette defender Katie Kelly, who opened the shootout by scoring to the upper right corner.

"I like the pressure," Kelly said. "That's why I decided I wanted to go first."

Florida's KeLeigh Hudson converted her kick, and Ananda O'Neal gave the Gators a 2-1 lead after Marquette's Michelle Martin shot wide. Mallams made no mistake with her PK, rifling the ball into top left corner, and Marquette pulled even when Boyer saved Bishop's attempt. Marquette senior Meghan Connelly and Florida's Ameera Abdullah converted their kicks before the Gators prevailed in the fifth round of the shootout.

"It would have meant a lot to (the seniors) if we could get them" past the second round, Kelly said. "This is kind of crappy to go out on."

Although the team's postseason hopes looked slim with a 5-5-4 record in early October, Marquette finished the year 12-6-5 and nearly replicated the NCAA tournament success of the 2005 squad that lost at UCLA in the round of 16.

"I'm really proud of our team," Roeders said. "I think they have shown so much class."

And Mallams showed she was in a class of her own.