Box Score

ST. PAUL -- Rebekah Kirby (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) scored Northwestern College's golden goal in overtime on Tuesday as the second-seeded Eagles beat No. 3 Bethany Lutheran College 2-1 in overtime at Reynolds Field to advance to the championship game of the UMAC Tournament.  With the victory, NWC advanced to the championship game and will play the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday morning.

Bethany Lutheran's Kristin Renner kept Northwestern fans on their toes for a while as her goal at the 18:14 mark put the visiting Vikings up 1-0.  Lyssa Hester (Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville) (Kasson, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville) scored the equalizer before halftime as she took an assist from Lauren Cleope (Manila, Philippines/Faith Academy) (Waterloo, Iowa/Faith Academy) and beat Bethany's Alexa Mowery.

45 more minutes after halftime didn't see a score from either team although the Eagles and Vikings both had their chances as the game came down the stretch.  Kirby's unassisted goal came just over five minutes into the first overtime period, sending Bethany Lutheran packing while advancing her team to the tournament championship game.

Tara Hanson (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian) (Andover, Minn./Andover) had two saves to earn the victory for Northwestern, who out-shot their opponents 13-5 in the game.

Northwestern will now travel north to Duluth, a place the Eagles know well, for Saturday's 11:30 a.m. contest.