BILLINGS, Mont. – For the second straight season and third time in four years, the Westminster women's soccer team are champions of the Unaffiliated Conference Tournament. They won the title this season with a 2-1 overtime victory over Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Sunday morning at Wendy's Field.
The 22nd-ranked Griffins receive an automatic invite to the NAIA National Championships with the win. They move to 15-3-2 overall this season.
Rocky Mountain (8-8-2) got on the board first when Alex Harvey played the ball into the penalty area. It bounced over the head of the Westminster keeper,
Abi Yanke, and was put in the goal by Gabi Heflin.
They didn't trail for long as just over three minutes later the Griffins found the equalizer. It would be
Madison Roemer that took a ball from
Nicole Carter and scored her fifth goal of the season in the 36th minute.
Neither team would score for the remaining 54 minutes of regulation. Westminster had three chances early in the second half, but they were turned away by Rocky's keeper, Missy Schultz.
It was Rocky that came out as the aggressors to start the overtime period as they had a shot from Mandi Achten stopped by Yanke. That resulted in a corner kick that was cleared by the Griffins and turned into a counter attack.
Rylei North found herself at the end of that attack and she buried a shot to clinch the championship with her 15th goal of the season.
Westminster will open play in the National Championships on Nov. 22. They will learn of their opponent and destination once all conference tournaments are completed next weekend.
