MANKATO, Minn. – In what was a flashback to last season's meeting between the same teams in the same round, the Winona State soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament by again beating Southwest Baptist 4-2 in penalty kicks Friday afternoon in Mankato.
Last season the Warriors and Bearcats were also tied 1-1 after two overtimes in the opening round of the tournament, and the Warriors would advance thanks to a 5-4 win in penalty kicks.
But the Warriors nearly didn't get to that point this time around. The Bearcats scored on Karla Jamison's 15th goal of the season in the 82nd minute to take a 1-0 lead with time quickly running out on the Warriors. However, just four minutes later Kenzie Rose found clutch senior Alaina Kne who put it in the back of the net in the 87th minute to pull even at 1-1 and force the extra time.
The Bearcats posted two shots while the Warriors had one in the first ten minutes of extra time, but WSU dialed up the pressure in the second overtime, recording four shots while Taylor Zehren hit the post twice. When it was all said and done, the two teams would end in a 1-1 tie and need a shootout to break the draw and decide who moves on.
The Warriors (15-5-2) would make sure there was no doubt about that, going a perfect 4-for-4 on penalty kicks off the feet of Kne, Kelsey Foss, Darian Molter and Meg Riebau, while WSU goalkeeper Rachel Oleson stopped two of four kicks to advance the Warriors on to their third meeting in two weeks with No. 1 Minnesota State Sunday at 1 p.m. in the regional final in Mankato. WSU dropped the first meeting 2-0 before falling 1-0 last Sunday in the NSIC Championship.
WSU recorded 19 shots on the game, while SBU finished with 18 in an evenly-matched contest. The Bearcats put seven shots on goal while the Warriors had six. Molter led the Warriors with five shots and two on goal in 43 minutes off the bench, while Kne and Kati Baker each posted three shots apiece – two of which were on goal. Zehren also had three shots, while Nicole Sames had two.
Oleson allowed just the one goal while stopping successfully six Southwest Baptist shots.
