SALT LAKE CITY - Alexa Maple struck another perfectly placed goal into the top corner of the net in the 83rd minute to bring Westminster women's soccer (10-2-4, 7-2-3 RMAC) even with Colorado Mesa (13-3, 10-2 RMAC) and
Cassidy Orr scored in the second minute of extra time to give the Griffins a 2-1 overtime win on Wednesday night at Dumke Field.
Westminster, which has now won five straight and six of its last seven matches to end the regular season, heads into the RMAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will travel to take on third-seeded Colorado School of Mines in Sunday's quarterfinal round. Colorado Mesa, which began the night as the No. 1 team in the conference and needing a win to clinch the regular season title, drops to No. 2 in the final RMAC women's soccer standings.
The Griffins struggled to find their footing offensively and lost the first-half possession battle while being outshot 9-7 in the first 45 minutes. Colorado Mesa broke the deadlock in the 26th minute when Lexi Newton chased down a loose ball and found the back of the net from the edge of the Griffins' penalty area, putting the Mavericks on top by a goal.
Kelsea Cracroft made five big stops in the first half and finished with eight for the match to hold Colorado Mesa to the single goal.
Alex Hoffman was the only defender to see the field for all 92 minutes as the combination of Cracroft and her back line held a CMU offense that ranks third in the RMAC in goals scored, scoreless throughout the second half with only four second-half shot attempts.
As the clock ticked under ten minutes to play, Westminster began to pile on the pressure offensively. Off of an 83rd-minute throw-in,
Alexa Maple took advantage of a chaotic penalty area and scooped a loose ball around the penalty spot with her back to net. Maple took one quick touch before curling a perfect shot up and past goalkeeper Chloe Dody to even the match at 1-1 with just over seven minutes to play.
Westminster was the only side that looked like finding a game winner over the final minutes of regulation and CMU narrowly missed conceding a last-minute penalty kick the full-time whistle sent the game into sudden death overtime tied at 1-1.
CMU saw one move up the pitch to begin the overtime period but in just the second minute of extra time, Maple connected with Orr on a give-and-go opportunity that put Orr behind the Mavericks' back line. Off of a perfectly place through ball from Maple, Orr struck the net to give Westminster its fifth-straight win to end the regular season.
Westminster will now prepare to travel to Denver to take on Colorado School of Mines in Sunday's RMAC Tournament quarterfinal round.
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