LAKEWOOD, N.J.- The Caldwell University women's soccer team took home a shootout victory against Holy Family University in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship semifinals and advance to Sunday's championship game against the top seed Georgian Court University.
The Cougars advance to their third championship game in the past four seasons as they won the CACC Championship in 2013 and were the runner-up in 2015.
The match goes on the book as a scoreless draw to move the Cougars record to 11-7-2, while the Tigers finish their season at 9-7-3.
The teams battled for 110 minutes in a defensive battle. Holy Family played with 10 players due to a red card in the 44th minute.
Caldwell controlled the shots in the opening half 7-3 and held the edge in the second half 5-4. Sophomores
Gianna Klucker (Tamins, Switzerland) and
Emily Valerian (Roseland, N.J.) each posted three total shots for the Cougars while Valerian and sophomore
Jessica LaConde (Huntington Beach, Calif.) each netted two shots on goals.
In the second overtime, LaConde and freshman
Meghan Grundhauser (Easton, Pa.) took shots that were saved early in the period. Holy Family also had a shot on goal with under a minute to play but senior keeper
Kylie Whalen (Hazlet, N.J.) got the save to preserve the tie and the teams headed to a shootout.
Holy Family went first and Brianna Rock hit the cross bar. Caldwell took the lead as Klucker scored on her first attempt. Stefanie Ulmer went in round two for Holy Family and Whalen came up with a clutch save. Senior
Jessica Garretson (Atco, N.J.) put the Cougars up 2-0 as she chipped her attempt into the net.
The Tiger got on the board in round three as Alyssa Christensen scored on her attempt to trim the shootout to 2-1. Grundhauser matched on her attempt to push the lead back to 3-1. Holy Family Taylor Walker had her shot in round four stopped by Whalen to clinch the Cougars victory and advance them to the CACC Championship game.
Caldwell will face the top seed in Sunday's championship game as they will take on Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ at 10 am. The Lions edged the Cougars 2-1 on October 1 in Lakewood.
