ST. JOSEPH, MINN. – The St. Catherine University soccer team is no stranger to postseason drama. Exactly 364 days later, the Wildcats hosted Gustavus Adolphus College in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Soccer Playoff and advanced to the semifinal round after a shootout.

A year later, same story. Literally. After 110 minutes of play resulted in a 1-1 draw between St. Kate's and the College of Saint Benedict, the Wildcats and Blazers needed a shootout to determine who would advance to the MIAC Semifinal round. Just like last year, St. Kate's came out on top, winning the shootout 4-3 to advance to the semifinal for the second consecutive year.

As the No. 5 seed in the tournament, the Wildcats had to travel to St. Joseph, Minnesota on a cold, blustery Tuesday to take on the fourth-seeded Blazers, which is one way our story deviates from the 2016 version. Like last year, though, the opposition managed to score before St. Kate's, as Saint Ben's scored the opening goal nine minutes into the game. Megan Thompson scored for the Blazers at 9:19, putting the Wildcats in an early 1-0 deficit.

It took over 40 minutes for St. Kate's to score the equalizer, but when it did, there was absolutely no doubt about it. Kaitlin Machovec (Woodbury, Minn. / North St. Paul) hit a rocket from high in the box, and the ball soared past Blazer keeper Kendall Koenen to the lower right corner of the net to even the score at 1-1.

Machovec scored at 49:39 in the game, leaving over 35 minutes left in regulation for either team to take a lead. However, both goalkeepers were outstanding for their respective teams. Jessica Perez-Adame (San Jacinto, Calif. / San Jacinto) made a career-high 14 saves in the game as Saint Ben's outshot St. Kate's 25-13 in 110 minutes of play. Koenen made four saves in the final minutes of regulation and three in overtime and the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on several offensive chances both in regulation and overtime.

After neither team was able to break the 1-1 tie in overtime, a shootout was needed to determine who would advance to take on Augsburg University in the MIAC semifinals Wednesday night. The drama heightened as each team sent its strikers to the end line, with Machovec leading the way for St. Kate's.  However, the Blazers were the first team to shoot, and Maren Nobel managed to shoot the ball past Perez-Adame.

The Wildcats, though, had an answer for every single make Saint Ben's made during the shootout. Machovec, Shannon Hickey (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Visitation), Iryna Talkachova (Minsk, Belarus / Shattuck-St. Mary's) and Allie Bird (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) each made their penalty kick attempts and Perez-Adame made two diving saves to secure the 4-3 shootout win for St. Kate's.

Although the game is officially a tie in the record books, the Wildcats advance to the semifinal round of the MIAC Playoffs thanks to the 4-3 advantage in the shootout. That being said, St. Kate's will play top-seeded Augsburg in a primetime game Wednesday evening at Edor Nelson Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.