ABERDEEN, S.D. - In the semifinal matchup of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament, the sixth seeded Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons were able to outlast second seeded Northern State University in a shootout, six to five. MSUM advances to the NSIC Championship game against the University of Mary on Sunday at 1:00 pm at Jerde Field.
The Dragons tamed the Wolves in the first half and took a shooting advantage of 5-4 into the halftime break. The Wolves came out blazing in the second half, outshooting the Dragons 9-1. The two teams fought hard for the regular 90 minutes of play and the two overtime periods, but neither team was able to find an advantage through the battle. The Wolves took 12 corner kicks in the game, displaying their intensity in the playoff game.
The Wolves stepped up the intensity in the overtime periods and were able to keep the play on their side of the field. Unfortunately, time was not on their side and the game finished in a 0-0 tie. A shootout would be needed and the Dragon attack would prove to be too much, as MSUM won 6-5 and advanced to the Championship game.
Junior goalkeeper Catherine Grace ( Littleton, Colo.) picked up the tie and shutout for the Wolves, allowing no goals in the regular and overtime periods. She had four saves in 110:00 minutes of play. With the tie, Grace's overall season record is now 11-4-4.
In the contest, the Wolves outshot the Dragons 18-6, but both the Wolves and the Dragons had four shots on goal. Leading the charge for Northern State was redshirt freshman
Kirsten Saunders ( Englewood, Colo.) with three shots and two shots on goal. Freshman forward
Maggie Fedor ( Monticello, Minn.) junior defender
Maggie Madrid ( Petaluma, Calif.) and senior forward
Larissa Strychun ( Calgary, Alberta) each added three shots.
With the win, the Dragons move on to the Championship game to take on the University of Mary. The game is set for 1:00 pm Sunday, November 4 at Jerde Field in Aberdeen, SD. As for the Wolves, the remainder of the season is a question mark. They await next week's regional rankings, which will determine if they will be ranked high enough to play in the regional tournament.
