The first championship game of the Conference USA Tournament for
the Saint Louis University women’s soccer team ended in a defeat in
overtime with penalty kicks. The game finished in overtime 1-1
before going into the shootout with the Bills falling to DePaul
4-3.

“We played well and the game was really hard-fought. It went
back and forth,” said junior Kara Kornfeld.

After the Billiken advance, the Blue Demons went on a
counterattack of their own. The Bills were close to a goal in the
third minute as Christie Cigno sent Tara Gresco down the right
side. Gresco dropped a quick pass to Anna Schuch at the front of
the goal. But DePaul keeper Lindsey Deason was able to clear the
ball before Schuch was able to get a shot off.

The Blue Demons quickly went on the offensive when Julianne
Sitch attacked the Billiken defense. A SLU foul on Sitch in the box
put the DePaul midfielder at the penalty spot against SLU keeper
Amanda Martin. Martin deflected the shot and Sitch shot the
rebound, forcing Martin to make another save.

The Bills were able to score late in the first half when Trisha
Neidenbach struck a deadball and found Cigno near the penalty mark.
Cigno headed the ball, eluding Deason to give the Bills the
lead.

The Blue Demons were able to tie the score early on in the
second half when Sitch passed the ball over the defense to Margo
Sackmaster. Just as Martin came out to challenge the shot,
Sackmaster drilled the ball past Martin to tie the game 1-1.

The remainder of the game showed few shots for either team and
the first overtime was the same. The game then went into penalty
kicks, with five for each team.

“Before the penalty kicks we were all very nervous. It was like
flipping a coin to see who would win,” Kornfeld said. Jamie Perry
struck the first for SLU, but Deason dove for the ball to make the
save. After Lauren Spacht scored off DePaul’s first strike Courtney
Hulcer, Kelly Ferguson and Dee Guempel connected to knot the
shootout at 3-3. Amber Prindle gave DePaul a 4-3 lead, and Deason
came up with the final stop on Carrie Carlsons final shot to give
the Blue Demons the championship.

The Billikens had made it to the final with a win over UAB in
the semi-final game, 3-0.

“That was our best game all season,” Kornfeld said. “Our team
seemed to click and we played well together. We were passing the
ball more and everything seemed to come together. We were really
confident in ourselves, this game showed us how we can play.”

The first goal came from Guempel in the 11th minute of the game.
Perry was able to pick up an insurance goal with the help of
Maureen Hughes. Perry picked up the loose ball and passed up to
Hughes, who then took the ball down the field and passed back to
Perry who was able to beat the defender and score the goal. The
third goal of the game came from Hughes when Ferguson sent a pass
to Cigno, but when the shot was deflected, Hughes took the ball and
put it in the goal.

The Bills finish their season with an overall record of
14-5-3.

“We will be better next year. We had a really young team, but
next year we will have the experience under our belt to win the
close games and to get to the championship again,” Kornfeld
said.