FULTON, Mo. – The William Woods University women's soccer team scored with 2.9 seconds left in the regulations to force overtime before advancing to the AMC Championship game on penalty kicks on Monday evening at Firley Field.
Claire Stark scored the tying goal with two seconds remaining in regulation before making the penalty kick that sent the Owls to the AMC Championship game.
WWU will travel to Columbia College on Thursday, November 9th to play in the AMC Championship. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. With Columbia already receiving the first of two automatic berths to the NAIA National Championship, WWU receives the second berth and have locked up an automatic berth to nationals.
Game Flow
Park wasted little time getting onto the scoreboard in the contest as they scored within the first three minutes of the contest. Lydia Parker scored the first goal of the contest putting the Pirates ahead 1-0.
WWU looked to respond early as Shelby Scanlan had a shot that the Pirates made a save on. WWU continued to put shots on goal but Alyssa Gregory continued to record saves on the Owls. William Woods had four shots on goal in the first half but could not get a ball past the Pirates.
Park's Lydia Parker and Emma Chatterton had shots on goal for Park in the first half, but the shots were saved by Rebecca Sturgess. WWU trailed 1-0 at halftime.
WWU came out and looked to score within the first 10 minutes of the second half as Stark had a shot on goal that was saved by Gregory. Stark's shot was the last shot for the Owls until there was 21:52 left in the half.
After Stark's shot the Pirates came down and had quality scoring chances as they had four shots on goal that Sturgess saved and a ball that went off the crossbar.
With time running down, the Owls needed to score to force overtime. Jaclyn Zilch sent a ball into the box that Stark got a foot on and beat Gregory tying the game with 2.9 second remaining in regulation.
William Wood outshot Park, 2-1, in the first overtime period but could not get a shot past Gregory and the Owls and Pirates headed to a second overtime. Both teams had scoring chances in the second overtime but both goalies made saves and the game went to a shootout.
In the shootout, WWU and Park both made its first four shots. After a Park miss, the Owls had a shot to win but could not make the shot. The Pirates and Owls matched each other make for make and miss for miss. On the 11th shot, Isabel Sullivan missed high. Stark stepped up for her kick and put it into the back of the net, advancing the Owls to the AMC Championship.
By the Numbers
2.9 – The Owls scored the game tying goal with 2.9 seconds left in regulation
10 – WWU had 10 shots on goal in the contest
7 – William Woods hit seven PKs to advance to the AMC Championship
10 – Rebecca Sturgess had 10 saves in the contest
2014 – The Owls will be making its first AMC Championship match since 2014
PK that Sent the Owls to the AMC Championship
