Box Score

ST. PAUL – The Northwestern College women's soccer team stretched out the regular season for the longest amount of time possible Saturday and ended the matchup with the University of Minnesota Morris in a 1-1 lock.

The game seemed quite familiar for both teams as their September 28 faceoff also went extra time, but the Cougars scored a late goal leaving the Eagles with a 1-0 loss last month.

Saturday's game saw Northwestern playing much of the first half on defense as they were unable to muster a shot in the first 45 minutes of play. The Eagle's backline, captained by Sarah Stenson (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) between the pipes, picked up three first-half saves on the path to a scoreless first half for both teams.

NWC's offense remained quiet in the second half until it earned its first shot opportunity at the 63:09 mark. Another break in the home team's scoring attempts saw Minnesota Morris take the lead after netting a goal around 12 minutes after the first Eagle shot. The Purple and Gold responded however, and Lyssa Hester (Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville) made a senior day memory as she sunk a direct kick past the Cougar goalkeeper, evening the ball game with 8:35 to play.

Both teams scrambled to earn a lead as the final minutes ticked off the Reynolds Field scoreboard but neither were able to convert, sending the regular season finale into extra time.

The first overtime featured a NWC offensive effort that tallied a 2-0 advantage in shots while the second period of extra time was a reverse in the action as Minnesota Morris racked up three shots in the final ten minutes of competition.

With the tied result, Northwestern finishes the regular season with a 8-8-2 overall record (8-4-2 UMAC). Saturday's matinee was the final home game for the four Eagle seniors, Susan Delain (Andover, Minn./Meadow Creek Christian), Lyssa Hester (Mantorville, Minn./Kasson-Mantorville), Jessica Monson (Albertville, Minn./Home School), Katy Hoppe (Amery, Wis./Amery) and Heidi Anderson (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Walnut Ridge Academy), as the team will be the #4 seed in next week's conference post-season tournament.

NWC's attention will now shift to Tuesday's 2 p.m. semifinal matchup with the #1 seed College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. Minnesota Morris clinched the #2 seed and will host #3 Bethany Lutheran at the same time Tuesday in the other semifinal game. More information for the UMAC post-season tournament can be found here.