WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Northeastern State women's soccer team is onto the finals of the 2015 MIAA Championship after tying Central Oklahoma 1-1 and then winning a penalty shootout 4-3 Friday night at Jennies Field. This will be the first conference tournament finals appearance in school history.
 
The RiverHawks (14-4-2), who are the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will now face top seed and No. 9-ranked Central Missouri (18-2) at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 for the league title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. UCM defeated Fort Hays State 3-2 in double overtime in the first semifinal contest of the day.
 
In order for NSU to qualify for the national tournament, the team will have to knock off the Jennies at home for the second time this season. The RiverHawks defeated UCM 1-0 on Oct. 18. Outside of that loss to NSU, Central Missouri is 10-0 at home this season.
 
Northeastern State was the first to strike in the semifinal, when junior midfielder Kelsey McIntyre buried a shot from 10 yards out in the 11th minute following a perfect through ball from senior forward McKenzie Musella. The play began when junior forward Anastasia Robinson possessed the ball along the left flank. She served a low cross to the top of the 18 that was quickly sent through the back line and onto a streaking McIntyre.
 
The No. 2-seeded Bronchos (12-5-3) equalized in the 22nd minute when Kentia Kokis finished a cross from the left from Katie Killion.
 
NSU held a 9-7 shot advantage after the first half of play. UCO outshot the RiverHawks 12-4 the rest of the way, but neither team was able to crack the defensive code. After playing a scoreless second half, the two teams used both 10-minute overtime sessions and could still not determine a winner.
 
The match then went to PK's to settle the score, and it was UCO who took the early advantage. The Bronchos made their first three attempts and led 3-1 at one point. Musella cut the lead in half in the third round and Courtney Cox then missed her attempt to begin the fourth round.
 
Junior forward McKenna Jetton equalized on her attempt, and junior goalkeeper Jordan Woodruff made a sprawling save to start the fifth round on Camrie Hurst's shot.
 
The miss put the contest squarely on the boot of senior defender Emily Burch, and her try was true as NSU came from behind to claim the shootout victory by a 4-3 margin.
 
This was the first penalty kick shootout for Northeastern State since joining the NCAA in 1996.
 
Woodruff (14-4-2) played all 110 minutes in goal and made six saves, while allowing one goal. UCO keeper Elle Stover (8-4-3) also played 110 minutes while making six saves and allowing one goal, but she was lifted for goalkeeper Ally Salls before the penalty shootout.

Scoring Summary
NSU                 1          0          0          0          –          1
UCO                 1          0          0          0          –          1
 
Individual Scoring
Kelsey McIntyre (NSU) at 10:55 (McKenzie Musella, Anastasia Robinson)
Kentia Kokis (UCO) at 21:20 (Katie Killion)
 
Shootout Results
Kenzie Sublett (UCO) –Made
Jennifer Cudjoe (NSU) – Made
Victoria Neblett (UCO) – Made
Julia Mathis (NSU) – Missed
Caitlin Moore (UCO) – Made
McKenzie Musella (NSU) – Made
Courtney Cox (UCO) – Missed
McKenna Jetton (NSU) – Made
Camrie Hurst (UCO) – Missed
Emily Burch (NSU) – Made
 
Goalkeeper Saves
Jordan Woodruff (NSU) – 6
Elle Stover (UCO) – 6
Ally Salls (UCO) – 0
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH CHASE WOOTEN
Opening statement…
"I feel like we played hard. We missed some chances and kind of got away from ourselves a little bit. You have to give UCO a ton of credit. They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half. I thought we lost our way there a little bit and were dropping too many players back to try and defend what they were bringing. I thought in overtime we were able to recapture some of the play and play into some of the space we wanted to have. I'm super proud of the team on the grind factor. We didn't quit. We stayed on point with what our tasks and assignments were. From a standpoint of PK's, we trained for the last two weeks with those. We know Jordan (Woodruff) is a great shot blocker so we had some confidence that she could get us one or two. Then we just needed to make ours. I'll say this, our kids put some first class PK's in."

On trailing after the first three rounds of shootout…
"Jordan was all over UCO's second and third shots, but they were just hit extremely well otherwise she would've blocked them. She's so good that if you give her five PK's, she's going to come up with one or two. She's just such a phenomenal shot blocker and so good in that area. It was up to us to put enough pressure on them to get that last goal."

On his thoughts when Emily Burch was walking to take the final penalty…
"I was in full blown prayer at that point. We were just hoping there'd be a favorable bounce for us and Burch stood up and rose to the pressure. You could see it in their eyes that they are so proud of their effort and the way they played. That they were able to overcome the obstacles that were in front of them."
 
On what competing for a championship means to him…
"Really and truly before the tournament had started I had thought that the team had succeeded. Not to set low expectations, but I just thought we'd played as a team for 18 games. Now there were moments when we didn't play our best and had an underperforming type of deal, but going into that last weekend and having a shot to win the league - those things are a reflection of a body of work through September and October that I was already very proud of our team. Then it was just about refocusing the lens on trying to have a good week at the conference tournament level. I thought we did a good job against Missouri Western State and we knew UCO was going to be tough tonight. I think they're playing very good soccer. Now is became what our team could do under this amount of pressure and rising to it. For me personally I'm just happy for them."

On Central Missouri…
"Central Missouri at home is going to be a tough team to face. I think it's going to come down to can we manage our assignments. We will need to handle the tasks and break the game up into smaller tasks. We will need to manage those tasks accordingly. It's one of those matches where we will be able to compete if we stay together and play as a team. We if try to play as individuals then we're going to get gutted. So it's very much over the next 48 hours refocusing the lens on trying to make sure that we are connected as a team."
 
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