From Jamestown Athletics
JAMESTOWN, ND. (jimmiepride.com) – The 22nd-ranked University of Jamestown women’s soccer team won its first regular-season GPAC conference title Saturday afternoon while clinching an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship with a 2-2 draw against Briar Cliff (Iowa) University.
The Jimmies needed either a draw or a win against the Chargers to take the top spot and make the national tournament field for just the second time in program history (2005).
UJ finishes the conference schedule with an 11-0-1 record and is now 16-0-1 overall. Jamestown hosts eighth-seed Dordt (Iowa) University Thursday at 6 p.m.
Saturday’s match got off to an ominous start as BCU got the game’s first goal inside of eight minutes. Taylor Alkire took a shot over the head of Jimmie keeper Alex Nowka (JR/Anchorage, Alaska), who managed to get fingertips on the ball, but the shot continued into the net despite the best efforts of Haley Dyer (JR/Honolulu, Hawaii) to kick it away.
Kamryn Fiscus (JR/Yakima, Wash.) drew the Jimmies level in the 11th minute, giving the home team a sense of relief after falling behind early. Both teams understood the urgency of the pending result, and the physicality of play picked up as the half went on. A total of 13 fouls and five yellow cards in the opening 45 minutes kept the referee busy.
Eve Hoppe (SO/Temecula, Calif.) nearly put UJ ahead in the 53rd minute but her shot hit off the crossbar, then Fiscus was denied by Darrien Sclafani in the 75th minute.
The 81st minute saw the deadlock broken as Flor Suarez made it 2-1 for the Chargers. Penelope Hoppe (SR/Temecula, Calif.) then countered with the biggest goal of the year so far for Jamestown, scoring in the 86th minute to even the match at 2-2.
In the first overtime, Nowka made three key saves to keep Briar Cliff from the win, then in the second overtime it was Sclafani keeping the Jimmies from the win with a save of a Gabby Sarkis (SO/Campbelltown, Sydney, Australia) header.
The closing seconds of the match saw Jamestown appear to score the game-winning goal, but the linesman had ruled the Jimmies offside, and the match ended in a draw.
Nowka finished wth six saves and Fiscus had three of UJ’s six shots on goal.