The women's soccer team (9-7-1, 6-3-1 NAC) pulled out a huge Northern Athletics Conference win over Dominican University, 2-1, in two overtime periods on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Junior midfielder Laura Engel tallied the winning goal in the 102nd minute of play to keep the Muskies' chances of making the conference tournament alive, as the win locked them into fifth place in the NAC rankings.

"She hit a nice shot and caught the keeper off her line," said head coach Dave Madsen. "The girls fought really had and kept pushing and pushing until Dominican finally fell over in the second overtime."

Sophomore forward Amy Christenson put the squad up, 1-0, early in the first half with a goal off a corner kick from junior defender Kelly Hopfinger.

"Amy Christenson's urgency on the field has been through the roof the last couple of games," Madsen said. "We came out strong and it was good to see that we were finally able to follow through and score off the corner kick."

However, a solo shot from the Stars' Mayra Camacho in the 31st minute knotted up the score at 1-1 until Engel's goal closed the game.

"We were outplaying Dominican for the most part, but a ball was miscleared and they were able to put it away," Madsen said. "We took our foot off the gas a little at the end of the first half, but were able to take the momentum back in the second half and into the overtimes. I'm very happy because the girls put in a full effort from the first minute until the goal was scored in overtime."

The win should give the Muskies a big confidence boost heading into their last regular season NAC game against Benedictine University on Wednesday, Oct. 25.

"Benedictine will be a quality opponent to prepare us for the tournament this weekend," Madsen said. "We have been moving in a good direction the last two to three games. The girls want to win a conference tournament and are working hard to achieve it. We're one of the most dangerous teams in the field, and I'm not sure anyone wants to be playing us at this point."

Game time with Benedictine is set for 3 p.m. at Muskie Field.