(Editor's note: Rocky Mountain College media release)
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Rocky Mountain College earned a trip to the 2019 Cascade Collegiate Conference's Women's Soccer Championship after defeating Southern Oregon University in penalty kicks on Wednesday night.
The match remained scoreless through regulation and two overtime periods. Each team recorded three shots in the first period while the Battlin' Bears outshot the Raiders 9-3 in the second. Jessie Selby, Southern Oregon's goalkeeper, had to record six saves in the second period to send the match into overtime. Rocky's Maia Wetzel had three saves on the other side of the field.
Neither team managed to find a golden goal in the first overtime period. With no shots being recorded on either side in the second overtime period, the match continued in a season deciding penalty kick shootout.
Rocky didn't miss a single penalty kick. Wetzel and Southern Oregon's Michala Denn found the back of the net initially, but the Raiders were unable to get a ball past Wetzel in the next two rounds of the shootout. Rocky's Mhari Smith and Lauryn Gamache converted both of their opportunities to secure Rocky's 3-1 penalty kick victory following a third misfire from the Raiders.
Adding to her school record for most shutouts in a single season, Wetzel recorded her second consecutive shutout and her 12th of the season.
With neither of Rocky's quarterfinal nor semifinal victories decided in regulation, the Battlin' Bears' journey toward a CCC tournament title will continue in the 2019 CCC Women's Soccer Championship. The Battlin' Bears will play the No. 2-seeded Eastern Oregon Mountaineers for an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship on Nov. 15 at 2 p.m (PT).
