Box Score

WINONA, Minn. – The Northern State University Wolves scored first, but the second-seeded and 17th ranked Minnesota State University Mavericks scored twice to take a hard-fought 2-1 win Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's soccer tournament.
    The loss ends NSU's 2008 season, while Minnesota State moves on to face either top seed Winona State or  the fourth-seeded University of Mary in Sunday's championship game.
    It was NSU who got on the scoreboard first, as sophomore Maggie Fedor (Monticello, Minn.) and junior Summer Swan (Oregon City, Ore.) teamed up to feed freshman Kaylee McDonald (Ramsey, Minn.) the ball in front of the net.  McDonald, recently named to the Second Team All-NSIC squad, slipped the ball past MSU goaltender Sheila Reynolds to put the Wolves up 1-0 in the 35th minute.
    The Mavericks, however, wasted little time in retaliating, as Elise Bjerkenas fed Gina Paletta the ball for the tying score just three minutes later.
    MSU junior Tayler Vestal then put the Mavericks up for good in the 54th minute of the second half when she picked up a rebound shot and snuck it into the left corner of the net, making it a 2-1 game.
    The Wolves, who were outshot by a 22-7 margin in the game, had a couple chances to tie the game, the most promising coming on a Fedor shot that was headed for the upper right-hand corner of the net before Reynolds reversed directions to snag the ball out of the air and save the score.
    NSU goalkeeper Kit Grace (Littleton, Colo.), also an Honorable Mention All-Conference selection, made 11 saves on the day and ends her solid career with an 8-4-2 record on the year.