SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) women's soccer team owned a 2-0 lead in the shootout following two scoreless overtime periods, but host Springfield College converted three unanswered kicks to advance to the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship game this evening at Brock-Affleck Field in Springfield, Mass. The sixth-seeded Pride are now 7-8-3 and will head to Cambridge, Mass. on Saturday, November 6 to take on top-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which advanced to the title match with a 3-0 victory tonight over number five seed Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The seventh-seeded Lyons finish their season at 8-7-4.

Wheaton put itself in an ideal position after converting the first two kicks of the shootout, while Springfield missed on both of their tries. Junior midfielder Julia Markmann (Sønderborg, Denmark) scored easily in the first round of kicks for the Lyons and first year Nevaeh Petruzzi (Exeter, N.H.) followed with a successful try of her own. 

Staring at a 2-0 deficit, Springfield's fate turned when Wheaton fired high in the third round and junior keeper Amelia Harper (Taylorsville, Utah) stepped up with two big saves in the final two rounds. In the meantime, the Pride regrouped. Senior midfielder Kaleigh Dale (Mansfield, Conn.), who scored the lone goal in regulation for Springfield and tallied a hat trick in the first meeting between the teams, converted the home team's first PK of the shootout to cut the deficit to 2-1. Sophomore forward Jen Walker (Webster, Mass.) hesitated just enough before her shot and calmly deposited her try into the left side of the net to tie the shootout at 2-2. Following Harper's second stop of the shootout, senior forward Maddy Bonavita (Wilbraham, Mass.) guessed right with her shot that landed into the right side of the back of the net to snatch victory from defeat for the Pride.

It wasn't the first time that victory looked certain in the match, only to have the emotion of the match turned completely around. 

Following just a tick over 84 minutes of scoreless soccer, Dale caught the Lyons keeper off of her line and lofted a perfectly placed shot from 40 yards out into the top right corner of the net, eluding the reach of the Wheaton goalie, who desperately rushed back to cover the goal. Springfield took a 1-0 lead with under six minutes to play and looked to hold on for victory as the seconds ticked away, but the Lyons had other plans.

With under two minutes to play, Wheaton junior forward Claire Donfield (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) lifted a 25-yard cross from just outside the right side of the box to the front of the net, where senior midfielder Chloe Troy (Wethersfield, Conn.) was waiting with header that found the back of the net for her team-leading 10th goal and a 1-1 tie with 108 seconds remaining in regulation. It was the last official goal of the match as the teams headed to overtime.

The teams played an uneventful first overtime, but the second session saw chances for both squads. The Lyons, who looked like they got their second wind behind a great show of support from their visiting fans, were awarded a free kick just outside of the 18-yard box with just over six minutes to play. Sophomore midfielder Makenzie Paulo (West Springfield, Mass.) looked to match her heroics from just two days prior when she lofted the eventual game-winner in the quarterfinals at Emerson from 30-yards out. She fired a hard shot from 25 yards out that was ticketed for the Pride goal, but sailed too high to keep the match deadlocked.

Later in the period, sophomore back Gabby Scott (Sea Cliff, N.Y.) had an open shot for Springfield, but her attempt went wide right with just over four minutes to play. Dale looked to end the match with 2:31 remaining, but her shot from 15-yards out on the left side, also missed and the contest stayed a draw.

The Pride held a 14-13 edge on shots, including 4-2 in the overtime periods, and a 3-2 margin on corner kicks.

Wheaton sophomore goalie Gabby Marcus (Austin, Texas) finished with six saves, including two in overtime, for the visitors, while Harper also stopped six shots. 

The Lyons finish with a winning record for the 26th consecutive season.