Game Summary
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — With the temperatures in the high 30s — and dropping fast — and the wind howling out of the west, the weather conditions were less than ideal for Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team, so was the final outcome.
Augsburg's Kristi Castelic converted a penalty kick with 11 minutes remaining in regulation to break a 1-1 tie and send the Auggies to a 2-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals.
"It was a tough loss," said SMU assistant coach
Jeff Halberg. "These ladies played their hearts out — it's just unfortunate that it had to end the way it did."
Augsburg took an early lead in the first half, on a goal by Kelsey Watsabaugh in the eighth minute. Watsabaugh fired the ball from deep in the left side of the penalty box, the ball caught up in the strong wind and carried across the goal mouth, past the outstretched arms of SMU goalkeeper
Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) and into the top right corner of the net.
The Cardinals pulled even in the game's 20th minute, as
Abbey D'Acquisto (Racine, Wis.) converted a penalty kick — SMU's first penalty kick goal of the season.
That would be all the offense the Cardinals would muster, however, and — despite the 10-save effort of Johnson — it was not enough as Castelic's penalty kick goal late in the second half sealed SMU's fate.
With the win, Augsburg improved to 5-2-1 in MIAC play, while the Cardinals fell to 2-3-3 in MIAC play — and, more importantly, dropped four points behind the Auggies in the chase for the fourth and final MIAC conference playoff spot.
"This was one of those games that could have gone either way — both teams played very well, especially considering the tough weather conditions," said Halberg. "We knew there was a lot at stake, and we played well enough to win — we just got unlucky on a PK call in the second half and that was the difference.
"We still have a shot at making the conference tournament, but this game certainly didn't help us."
