ST. PAUL, MINN. – Who'd have thought a tie would feel so good?

The St. Catherine University soccer team could not have asked for a more beautiful and dramatic way to start its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) run. In their first ever home playoff game, the Wildcats had an opportunity to knock off reigning playoff champion Gustavus Adolphus College and avenge their 4-2 loss from earlier this season. While the game ended in a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes of play, it may go down as the greatest tie in St. Kate's program history as the Wildcats advance to the next round of the MIAC playoffs thanks to 3-1 shootout victory over the Gusties. 

"It was a great game," soccer head coach Chris Citowicki said afterwards. "Gustavus is a very difficult opponent and causes problems for us. But we came in focused, very organized, and ready to make history, which is exactly what we did."

After an already historic season, Citowicki and St. Kate's were eager to continue the year by earning the first MIAC playoff win in program history. It quite clear early on, though, that the Wildcats would have to earn the win. Despite controlling the pace of play for the majority of the first 45 minutes of the game, St. Kate's was unable to score on Gustavus goalkeeper Ashley Becker. Becker was even able to quiet the Wildcats leading scorer Hannah Okerstrom (Bayport, Minn. / Stillwater), making a diving save to keep St. Kate's from scoring just 12 minutes into the game.

While Becker was busy keeping the Wildcats out of her net, Jessica Perez-Adame (San Jacinto, Calif. / San Jacinto) and the St. Kate's defense was busy making sure the Gusties didn't get close to theirs. Even when Gustavus did manage to break through the Wildcats defenses, Perez-Adame was there to make each and every save, securing a zero on the Gusties side of the scoreboard.

With the score knotted 0-0 after the first half, St. Kate's offense came out strong in the second, generating numerous scoring opportunities for its top scorers. Each time the Wildcats seemed to get a lucky break, though, either Becker was there to make the save or the ball would just miss finding the net, sailing wide or high of the goal.
Unfortunately, the Gusties didn't waste their first opportunity to score in the second half. Gustavus' sophomore midfielder Chase Miller scooped up a blocked pass and sailed the ball over a diving Perez-Adame to give the Gusties a 1-0 lead at 52:51.

Less than two minutes later, though, St. Kate's was finally able to break through Becker, thanks to a beautiful tic-tac-toe play in front of the goal. After Gustavus kicked the ball out of bounds around midfield, senior Allie Boucher (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) picked up the ball and threw it in to teammate Okerstrom, who streaked down the sideline towards the Gusties net. Just as it seemed like she was going to tail out of bounds, Okerstrom passed it off to Iryna Talkachova (Shoreview, Minn. / Shattuck-St. Mary's) on the back post, who buried it behind Becker to tie the game at 1-1.

Neither Becker nor Perez-Adame allowed another goal in the second half, resulting in a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. In both the first and second overtimes, both Gustavus and St. Kate's were unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities, and the game was still tied 1-1 after 90 minutes of regulation and 20 extra minutes of overtime play.
Then, the shootout happened.
According to MIAC and NCAA regulations, after the second overtime period ends, the result of the game is a tie and the winner is determined by a shootout. After a careful two minutes of strategizing by Citowicki, 10 Wildcats and 10 Gusties stood at midfield, ready to partake in the first shootout since St. Kate's joined the MIAC.
Hot-footed Kaitlin Machovec (Woodbury, Minn. / North St. Paul) was the first Wildcat face Becker in the shootout. She buried her shot in the top-left corner of the goal, putting St. Kate's up 1-0 after the first shooter.
Gustavus first shooter was its top scorer, senior forward Maddison Ackiss. Ackiss faked like she was going right, but Perez-Adame read the fake and made a diving save to keep the Wildcats ahead 1-0 after the first two shooters.
Talkachova extended St. Kate's lead to 2-0 in the shootout by beating Becker on the left side, but Sophie Leininger beat a diving Perez-Adame to cut the lead to 2-1. Then, Becker blocked Marissa Janssen's (Oakdale, Minn. / North St. Paul) to give the Gusties a chance to tie on the next shooter.
Perez-Adame, though, didn't even have to make a play on Miller's shot, as her ball sailed high over the crossbar and out of bounds. However, the junior goalkeeper did leave the net for a moment, to shoot her own penalty kick as the Wildcats fourth shooter. Like Machovec and Talkachova, Perez-Adame booted the ball past Becker then saved the next shot by Gustavus' Emily Odermatt to secure St. Kate's 3-1 shootout victory.
"This game showed that we are prepared to handle anything," Citowicki said after the postgame celebrating with his team. "For two years, we've been practicing for a moment like this, knowing that sooner or later we were going to be in a shootout. Our composure and confidence showed and I couldn't be more proud."
Though the game goes down as a tie in St. Kate's official record, the team advances to the second round of the MIAC playoffs thanks to the 3-1 shootout win. However, the Wildcats will face an equally challenging opponents in tomorrow's second round game when they take on the tournament No. 1 seed and MIAC regular season champs the University of St. Thomas. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at St. Thomas home field.