STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's College hosted Emerson College in a GNAC Semifinal match on Tuesday and failed to advance. In the NCAA books, the contest will appropriately go down as a 2-2 tie, as neither team deserved to lose this playoff battle. Advancement by one team was necessary and decided by a best-of-five shootout after the overtime periods were played. The Monks scored on three of their attempts; the Emerson College players succeeded on four of five and move on to play Emmanuel College in the GNAC Championship game this Saturday.

Both teams came out of the gates playing with a high level of intensity. The Emerson College Lions who jumped out to an early lead with two goals within 40 seconds of each other in the 11th minute. The Monks responded well for a team that isn't accustomed to being behind and applied tremendous offensive pressure for the remainder of the game. St. Joe's finally got on the board in the 32nd minute when FY Elizabeth Theberge (Danvers, MA) took a pass from teammate SO Brianna Jordan (Scarborough, ME) and scored to make the score 2-1 Emerson.

The Lions defense held on to the slim lead until the 71st minute when FY Mikayla Call (Portland, ME) weaved her way thru several defenders to pass to a streaking SO Anna Willis (Gorham, ME) on the left side who scored on a diving kick to tie the game at two apiece.

The Monks had opportunities to take the lead in the remaining portion of regulation as well as both overtime periods, but Lions goalkeeper Katie Hartman made several acrobatic saves to turn the St. Joe's chances away.

The Saint Joseph's College fans gathered around the perimeter of the soccer pitch to watch as the second overtime came to an end. The game was to be decided by way of a shootout: each team selects five players to kick from the penalty mark, the team who scores the most goals out of the five advances to the GNAC final. The Monks scored on 3 of 5 as SO Lauren Hagerman (Scarborough, ME), FY Mikayla Call (Portland, ME) and FY Elizabeth Theberge (Danvers, MA) converted their attempts. Emerson College converted on 4 of 5 as SO Rachel Lerma found the back of the net on their 5th bid, allowing the Lions to advance.

The Monks finish their regular season with a record of 16-1-3, 12-1-2 GNAC. The Semifinal game is registered as a tie, not a loss:

Rule 7-AR74
A postseason game, except the national championship game, decided by the penalty kick tiebreaker is recorded as a draw, and the team scoring the greater number of goals advances to the next game.