November 4, 2006
Chrystal Bradley's Goal Sends Conference Championship to Overtime
Monarchs lose 3-2 in shootout to Christopher Newport

FAYETTEVILLE, NC-  The Methodist women's soccer team has maintained a tight rivalry with Christopher Newport over the past few years, and Saturday's conference championship was no different.  The Monarchs came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game and send it into overtime.  With no score in overtime, the two teams went to a shootout and Christopher Newport won the tournament championship, but the game is credited as a tie in the teams' overall record.  The Monarchs move to 16-3-2 overall and Christopher Newport is 13-5-1.

The Monarchs dominated the shot count in both halves outshooting the Captains 18-14 in the 120 minutes of play.  Christopher Newsport scored first when Marica Betoney recovered a ball in the Methodist defensive third and shot over the outstretched hands of Monarch goalkeeper Amanda Evans.  In the 36th minute, Captain player Jaclyn Trono found Ashley Wellner for the second goal of the game.

Losing 2-0, the Monarchs were determined not to let down.  After a hard tackle forced her out of the game in the first half, freshman Whitney Roberson re-entered in the 50th minute and eight minutes later received a ball from freshman Ashley Kolano to beat the defense and slot the ball past Captains goalkeeper Erin Wojtkun to move the Monarchs to within one.  The clock was ticking and both teams had close opportunities, but the Monarchs were awarded one final chance after a Christopher Newport foul outside of the 18-yard box.  Junior Chrystal Bradley stepped up to take the kick with the 10 second countdown going over the speakers.  She blasted the ball past Wojtkun to tie the game with 1 second left on the scoreboard. 

The teams played two 15-minute overtime periods with a couple of chances, but most of the play staying in the middle of the field.  When the overtime periods ended, the teams selected 5 players from each team to participate in a shootout to decide the tournament champion.  Christopher Newport finished with 3 goals to the Monarchs 2 to win the championship and earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.  The Monarchs are hopeful for an at-large bid to be officially announced Monday morning.

The All-Tournament team was announced following the game.  Defender Teresa Futrell, midfielders Chrystal Bradley and Erica Nath as well as forward Whitney Roberson were all selected for their strong performances over the last two days.