ST. PAUL, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Women's Soccer team hosted Bethany Lutheran in what has become a nail-biting rivalry within the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. The latest installment on Wednesday night marked the UMAC Semifinal contest with the winner advancing to the UMAC Championship game on Saturday. For the fourth consecutive time, the Eagles defeated the Vikings by a single goal, winning the drama filled match 1-0.
Last season, the Eagles defeated the Vikings 1-0 in the semifinal by scoring a late goal to sneak out with the victory. UNW then defeated BLC twice this regular season by a goal margin each time, including exactly a week prior to Wednesday's semifinal matchup, in the second to last game of the season when the Eagles scored in the 82
nd minute to knock off the Vikings 3-2. However, Wednesday night's semifinal matchup may have been the closest and most drama filled match of them all.
UMAC soccer fans knew coming in that this game would be a grind-it-out, defensive battle of a game and it lived up to the billing. Nearly the first 30 minutes of the game went by scoreless before the Eagles scored the only goal of the game in the 30
th minute. Once again, it was the phenomenal freshman Haley Mersberger who scored for the Eagles. Mersberger, who is having the greatest scoring season in program history, scored her 26
th goal of the season off of an assist from
Mya Chan (Brandon, S.D./Homeschool). Chan has a team high 9 assists on the year.
The Eagles would hold that 1-0 lead all the way into the final minute of the contest. The Eagles controlled the game, not allowing a shot on goal for 89 minutes of play. However, in the final minute of the game, the Vikings made their push. With the clock winding down on their season, Bethany Lutheran kept sending balls into the Eagles' box. With only 14 seconds remaining in the game, the Vikings' finally saw the fruits of their labor. A handball was called on the Eagles and the Vikings were rewarded a penalty kick and one last chance to extend their season.
Reagan Flaschberger (Shoreview, Minn./Centennial), who had seen some action but had not been asked to make a save yet in the contest, stared down the Bethany Lutheran shooter with 14 seconds on the clock clinging to a 1-0 lead. The shot was taken and was well struck into the lower right corner. Flaschberger read it perfectly, went full extension, and knocked the ball just wide of the post. The clock ran out and UNW won the game 1-0 and punched their ticket to the UMAC Championship Game. Flaschberger had one save in the contest, but it was the biggest play of the season and sent UNW to their second consecutive conference championship game.
The #1 seed in the UMAC Tournament, Wisconsin-Superior, won their semifinal game over Crown College 6-0 on Wednesday night. That sets up a matchup between #1 UW-Superior and #2 UNW in the UMAC Championship game on Saturday with a trip to the NCAA National Tournament on the line. The game will take place in Superior, Wisconsin at 3:30 P.M.
