St. Scholastica holds off Eagles for UMAC women's soccer tournament title
ST. PAUL, Minn.---During the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) women's soccer regular season, the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Northwestern met just one time and Northwestern handed St. Scholastica a 2-1 loss en route to a regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
However, with the conference tournament title and the automatic qualifier to the NCAA championship on the line, No. 2-seed St. Scholastica flipped the table on Northwestern winning 2-1 for a sixth championship in the last seven seasons Saturday.
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Tournament Site |
Box Score |
The Saints win was the 11th postseason title win in program history and will send the Saints to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015 after missing out last year.
In Saturday's win, the Saints started off the first half controlling play as they outshot the regular season champs 13-6. It wasn't until the 31st minute, though, that the Saints broke the 0-0 tie when Janelle Rouillard tapped in the ball that was sitting on the line after a long-dstance shot from Cali Maarsa.
After taking a 1-0 lead into the half, the Saints were in control, but the Eagles had other plans – just over 10 minutes into the second half rookie Anna Welch netted her second goal of the postseason on a setup from Linley Norman and Emily Goeppinger to even the game at 1-1.
In the 63rd minute, Rachel Dixon scored for the second time in as many games on an assist from Rouillard to help the Saints regain the lead for good. The Saints held off several late-game pushes from the Eagles in cold and rainy conditions to recapture the postseason crown.
Roni Rudolph anchored the Saints' defense turning away seven shots in goal, while Samantha Dewey pushed aside nine shots for the Eagles. Dixon finished as the Tournament MVP after scoring two game winning goals and adding an assist for seven points in two tournament games.
The Saints will learn their postseason fate Monday at 12 p.m. (NOON) on
ncaa.com for the Division III women's soccer selection show.
Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinal Round – Monday, Oct. 30
No. 5 Northland def. No. 4 Martin Luther 1-0 |
Box Score |
Semifinal Round – Wednesday, Nov. 1
No. 1 Northwestern def. No. 5 Northland 3-2 (2OT) |
Box Score |
No. 2 St. Scholastica def. No. 3 Minnesota Morris 3-0 |
Box Score |
Championship – Saturday, Nov. 4
No. 2 St. Scholastica def. No. 1 Northwestern, 2-1 |
Box Score |
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the UMAC Women’s SoccerTournament page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on Twitter and Instagram using #UMACchamp.