NORMAL, Ill. – As the University of Evansville women's soccer team was engaged in an extended penalty shootout with Loyola, goalkeeper Whitney Biggs started to feel she just needed one stop, and that proved the case as the Missouri Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Year tipped a ball onto the crossbar to help the Purple Aces advance 8-7 over the Ramblers after a 1-1 draw in the conference semifinals at Adelaide Street Field on the campus of Illinois State University.
"You never want to go into a shootout, but that's what it came to," Biggs said. "I was really confident in my teammates, and they did really well. For me, I felt I just needed one save, and fortunately, I was able to do that."
With the result, defending champion UE moves on to the MVC title match for the third successive season.
The Ramblers (5-11-3) came out on the front foot early, applying pressure to the Aces goal for much of the opening 15 minutes before breaking through with a Avalon Senn-Raemont goal in the 20
th. It was the fourth goal of the season for Senn-Raemont, who initially saw her effort hit the crossbar before she headed in the rebound.
From there, however, the Aces (4-11-3) started to take control of the contest, nearly evening up things just before the half on a Bronwyn Boswell header.
Following the break, Boswell continued to look a likely scorer, and a fantastic lofted cross from Molly Lear put the Aces back level as Boswell looped it over LUC goalkeeper Cassidy Lentz in the 57
th minute. It was the seventh goal of the season for Boswell and the 21
st of her career as she moved just one score away from seventh on UE's all-time goal-scoring list.
"It was definitely a matter of time before I got a foot, a head, a knee or something on a ball," Boswell said. "We've scored so many interesting goals this season, and I knew something was coming from the way we were playing. It was a pretty good cross, and I didn't really know what was behind me, but it worked out."
Each side would mount dangerous opportunities as the game wore into a first and second overtime, but UE ultimately came the closest as Colleen Dierkes just narrowly missed a chance inside the six-yard box with just two minutes remaining in overtime.
Boswell, who was 3-for-3 from the penalty spot for the regular season, put away the first to kick off the shootout, and each side would trade makes until Loyola's Jenna Szczesny hit the post as UE took a 3-2 lead. However, Emily Richardson, who converted the winning penalty against Loyola in last season's title match, missed moments later, and Loyola's Taylor Lambouris converted to even things up at 4-4.
Undeterred as the shootout moved into sudden death, Dierkes, Montana Portenier, Laura Minor and Mikayla Harvey put away the next four kicks for the Aces before Biggs saved Ashley Bovee's effort to bring things to an end and send the Aces bench sprinting onto the field.
"You're just looking for people that are confident in that situation," UE head coach Krista McKendree said. "It's more gut feeling on their part than it is me picking shooters. If they're not confident, it's going to be a struggle. I was happy that we had some freshmen step up, and Laura Minor was huge. It was great. There's a lot of excitement to be back, and I'm happy and proud for the girls to come back in this game and find the equalizer."
"Our team is so cool and collected, and I knew Whitney would make a stop," Boswell added. "I think it was just a matter of how many people we were going to go through because I trusted every person who stepped up for a kick."
UE will return to action in the championship match on Sunday as the team will be looking to book a second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.
NOTES: Whitney Biggs gave up her first career MVC tournament goal in the contest. The senior held opponents scoreless for 200 consecutive minutes to win MVP last season … Bronwyn Boswell has now scored two postseason goals in her career. Another would mark the 22
nd goal of her career, tying her with Jessica Schwartz on the all-time list … UE has now advanced to the MVC title match 12 times, winning on seven occasions … The three consecutive final berths is the longest such streak since the team made seven in a row from 1996-02 … UE is now 1-4-4 all-time against Loyola and 25-29-10 against Illinois Schools … The Aces are 1-3-1 on Nov. 4.
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