Springfield, Mass. - November 4, 2021 - Despite trailing 2-0 in the penalty kick shootout, the Springfield College women's soccer program rallied to advance past Wheaton College on Thursday evening in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Women's Soccer Championship Tournament Semifinal at Brock-Affleck Field.

Springfield and Wheaton, who were the sixth and seventh seed in the championship were knotted at 1-1 after regulation and two overtime periods.  The Pride then advanced to the finals by virtue of a 3-2 decision in the shootout as the Pride improved to 7-8-3, while the Lyons season comes to a close with a 8-7-4 mark. Springfield will advance to play top-seeded MIT in the NEWMAC Championship Final on Saturday at 12 pm. The berth marks the Pride's 11th time in the last 14 seasons that Springfield will be playing for a NEWMAC title.

The Pride held a slight 14-13 edge in shots in the game and took three of the game's five penalty kicks. Both Amelia Harper (Taylorsville, Utah) and Gabby Marcus each made six saves in the 110 minutes of play. 

At the 22:06 mark in the first half, Wheaton's Mackenzie Paulo floated a free kick into the box that connected with the head of Nicolette Scinicariello for a strong chance, but the shot ended up going wide. With 15:40 remaining, Maddy Bonavita (Wilbraham, Mass.) received a ball on the left side and aim a shot low to the post for one of Springfield's best chances of the first half, yet Marcus scooped up the attempt as the teams went into the break knotted in a scoreless tie.

In the 53rd-minute, Kaleigh Dale (Mansfield, Conn.) found space and lined one up a shot from 30 yards out that was nearly a highlight strike, but the potential lead goal skipped just above the crossbar. At 64:04, Paulo loaded up from outside the box searching for the game's first goal, however Sonia Dugger (Belchertown, Mass.) turned into the shot to block it away, which kept the semifinal match scoreless.  

After missing from deep early in the stanza, Dale delivered a sensational strike for the game's first with six minutes left on the clock.  After Marcus came out to challenge an offensive threat and cleared the ball, Dale took one touch to settle the ball and unleashed a strike from 45 yards that carried off Marcus retreating to her line to send the Springfield faithful into a frenzy.  However, Wheaton had some late magic of their own as Claire Donfield connected with Chloe Troy for the game-tying strike with just 1:40 on the clock to force overtime. 

Neither team created significant offensive chances in the overtime periods as the contest would move into a shootout.  Springfield's first two attempts were unsuccessful, and goals from Julia Markmann and Nevaeh Petruzzi gave the Lyons a 2-0 advantage.  However, Wheaton's next attempt sailed high and Dale calmly tucked in Springfield's first score of the shootout.  Harper then made an incredible save, diving to their right and punching the ball off the crossbar and Jen Walker (Webster, Mass.) converted another Springfield attempt to even things up.  Harper again came up in a huge spot, snuffing out a Wheaton attempt, then Bonavita clinched the victory with the Pride's final attempt that found the back of the net.  

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