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SAN DIEGO –SAN DIEGO – Gina Shulte scored the Golden Goal in the seventh minute of overtime in a Golden State Athletic Conference tournament semifinal match, giving Point Loma Nazarene a hard-fought 1-0 win over #4-seed Westmont in brutal weather conditions Friday afternoon.


“It was a battle,” said PLNU coach Tim Hall. “We expected a tough fight and we got it. Both teams fought hard. I am very proud of our girls; they played into the wind in overtime but found another gear and got it done.”

The top-seed Sea Lions (18-1-1) will host three-seed Azusa Pacific on Friday, November 11 at 2:00 pm for the tournament championship. 

The Sea Lions had a few good opportunities in the first half but none of the attempts were finished. One of Katie Pedlowe's shots hit the crossbar while another just missed being a goal, the shot stopped by Warrior netminder Lindsay Smith. Smith turned back two other PLNU shots in the first, including a point-blank attempt by Erica Wessels just before halftime.

The Warriors opened up the offense in the second. Mallory Mitchell's header just missed going in at the start of the second stanza. Mitchell's attempt, which came off a free kick, was tipped by PLNU keeper Tiffany Kracy, the ball diverted just enough to go up and over the crossbar.

The momentum shifted back to the Sea Lions for the next few minutes. PLNU tried a few shots, a couple coming off of Kallie Caldwell corner kicks. Neither team had that much of an advantage for middle portion of the half; each side took shots on goal, but none were real threats.

Westmont forward Ashley Correa ripped a shot from 20 yards out at in the 68^th minute that Kracy somehow got a hand on, sending the ball just over the cross-bar for a game-preserving save.  Tiffany Dimaculangan got past the PLNU defense with five minutes to go, but that ball was stopped as well on another great diving save by Kracy.

That's about the time the weather really began to act up. What was an overcast, dreary day became one with driving rain and tremendous wind gusts.

Neither side got off another shot in regulation, sending the semi-final tilt to overtime. Both teams took shots that missed the mark in the first few minutes of overtime, though Point Loma's was most frustrating due to having an open net chance when Smith came out too far. 

Kracy made her seventh save of the game in the 95^th minute. The Sea Lions then worked their way down the field for the next couple of minutes. At 96:34, Pedlowe launched a ball from 25-30 yards out on the left side of the pitch and Shulte found paydirt, heading the ball into the Warrior net.

Pedlowe's assist was her tenth of the year, the most ever by a PLNU player in a single season. It was Shulte's second goal of the year, but biggest by far.

“I thought we had some great chances in the first half,” said Hall. “It evened out in the second and, thankfully, the defense held them back enough. We also got some great saves by Tiffany. A couple of her saves were huge.”

For the game PLNU outshot Westmont 15-12, though the Warriors had a 7-6 shots on goal advantage. Smith turned back five Sea Lion shots. The win for PLNU avenges their only loss. WC beat the Green and Gold 2-0 in the final regular season match of the year.

Westmont, which fell to 12-6 overall, is ranked No. 13 in the NAIA. The Warriors will have to wait until November 13 to see if they will earn an at-large berth to play in a NAIA Opening Round Match.

The fifth-ranked Sea Lions will host an NAIA Opening Round Match on November 19, regardless of next Friday's outcome.

PLNU beat APU earlier this year, 1-0, at Azusa. It was the first time ever that the Sea Lions beat the Cougars outright. APU advanced to the GSAC championship game today by beating The Master's, 2-1.