St. Scholastica and Minnesota-Morris went to extremes to determine the 2007 UMAC postseason tournament champion on a bright Saturday afternoon at Duluth's Public Schools Stadium.

 

After 90 minutes of regulation play ended in a 1-1 deadlock, the Saints and Cougars played a pair of 10 minute overtime periods without either being able to break the tie, which sent the game to a deciding shootout.

 

Only 15 minutes into the opening period, St. Scholastica's Melissa Entinger put the Saints ahead with her sixth goal of the season, taking a perfectly placed Sarah Bartlette (East Grand Forks, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary's) pass that snaked it's way through three defenders and burying her shot into the far corner past a diving Morris goalie. Entinger also had the first goal, eventually the game-winner, on Friday afternoon in the semifinal win that put the Saints into the championship.

 

Morris wasn't allowed a shot in the opening half and went into the intermission with very little offense and behind 1-0.

 

Action was more balanced in the second half but the Saints continued to maintain their slim lead as the minutes ticked off the scoreboard clock.

 

As the clock slipped past the seven minutes to play mark, Morris' Nina Jarnot sent a cross from near the right side line that the wind carried further and further towards the back post where it eventually cleared a backpedelling Kelly Momsen (Austin, Minn./Austin HS) and settled just inside the post and just under the cross bar for the tying score on the stunned Saints keeper.

 

Regulation time ended with the teams knotted at one setting up the first of two sudden death overtime periods. With no scoring the game reached into a second sudden death period, in which again neither team would find the back of the net.

 

Some consider the shootout a thrilling way to break a tie and end a game. Ask the players and some want to be chosen for the chance to win the game with one swing of the foot and all eyes upon them, while others look at the pressure as something they'd rather not have thrust on their shoulders. On Saturday afternoon, five players from each team took on the yoke and stepped to the penalty mark trying to end the game in a best of five mini-game.

 

Momsen set her heels on the goal line as Morris' Ashley Simpson took the first shot, scoring into the right corner for a 1-0 lead.

 

Robin Johnson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Marshall School) took the first crack at goalie Andrea Dexter from Morris and clanged one in off the inside of the left post to even the score.

 

Maddie Haisley was next for Morris but sailed her shot outside of the left post as the Saints saw their opening.

 

With a shot that went left, while Dexter guessed the other way, Sarah Bartlette (East Grand Forks, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary's) put her Saints ahead 2-1 and with the advantage.

 

Now in the third round of the shootout, one of the two team scoring co-leaders for Morris, Maddy Gerber, went right and while Momsen got her gloves on the ball, it trickled past for the tying score.

The Saints still had the advantage with three shooters remaining but Betsey Palmiscno (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks Senior HS)'s shot sailed over the cross bar leaving the score knotted at two apiece and the advantage back to a draw.

 

Morris' other scoring co-leader, Nina Jarnot, took her turn next against Momsen, the Saints' career leader in shutouts. Jarnot went to her left, and a diving Momsen snared the shot for a Scurry-esque save. Advantage back to the Saints.

 

Angie Groh (Andover, Minn./St. Francis HS) for the Saints and Elisabeth Fischbein for Morris each made their attempts to put the shootout score at 3-3 with one last shooter yet to step in.

 

St. Scholastica middle defender Cortney McKenzie (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) regularly runs upfield and takes her team's free kicks. Now she was being called upon to end the marathon.

 

Cortney McKenzie (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove HS) scores the game-winning shootout goal at the 2007 UMAC Championship" hspace="4" width="200" align="left" vspace="4" border="1" src="/images/wsoc/2007/11/3/WSOvUMM-UMAC-2007-11-03_143.jpg" />McKenzie placed the ball on the mark, shuffled two short steps back and with no hesitation, squared up as she stepped forward but punched a shot into the bottom right corner for an easy score that sent teammates rushing downfield in wild celebration.

 

The exciting St. Scholastica (19-2-1) victory turned the tables on the visiting Cougars (14-5-0) who came into last season's championship final against the Saints and pulled out a 1-0 win in double-overtime with a score less than three minutes from the second OT period's buzzer.

 

St. Scholastica's Entinger, with a pair of first-goals including Friday's game-winner was selected as the tournament MVP. Earning All-Tournament Team honors were:

 

 

**SAINTS**