ERIE, Pa. (Nov. 8, 2015) – East Stroudsburg's Shea Neal scored the game-winning goal with 2 minutes, 1 second remaining in overtime to end Edinboro's hopes for a first-ever PSAC championship. The Warriors won their second straight title, a 2-1 win in overtime, in the PSAC Women's Soccer Championship Game at Gannon's McConnell Family Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Edinboro is now 14-7-0 while East Stroudsburg is 11-6-2.
 

The loss snapped the Fighting Scots' five-game winning streak and left the team in tears afterwards. But they can take solace in knowing that, barring anything unforeseen, they will move on to make their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Edinboro came in ranked fifth in the latest Atlantic Region rankings and added an upset over the top seed, Gannon, in the semifinals.

East Stroudsburg, meanwhile, made an unlikely run to win the PSAC's automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. The Warriors came in as the number seed, but upset second-seed West Chester and third-seed Slippery Rock to reach the finals.   

Head coach Gary Kagiavas, though disappointed, was philosophical about the defeat.  "To be fair, I thought we played pretty well," he related. "We did our job. The kids played hard. We lost (Ashley) Mutkus and (Alex) Brown. We're a little banged up. It was a little different for East Stroudsburg as the defending champion. They had experienced this before. It's a little different when you've done it before."

The two teams entered overtime tied at 1-1 following a scoreless second half. Edinboro controlled the action throughout the overtime period and had two chances to score. Jansen Hartmann's hard shot from the far right hand corner was off the mark. Less than a minute later, Nicole Chabot had an open look but could not convert.

The Fighting Scots lost starting forwards Mutkus and Brown to injury late in regulation and were forced to aply without them in overtime.
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East Stroudsburg took advantage of its lone scoring opportunity in overtime. Neal took a perfect feed on a breakaway from Alex Pickett and beat goalkeeper Sarah Baskey with a shot to the left post, providing the Warriors their second straight conference title.

"We had good chances in overtime," Kagaivas admitted. "Then we got caught on a counterattack. But we had had our chances."

Making its first appearance in the PSAC Championship Game, Edinboro opened the scoring with a goal at 15:44 by Shannon Regan, the first goal of her career. The junior defender headed in a corner kick from Brown past East Stroudsburg goalkeeper Jules Harris.

The Fighting Scots kept the pressure on Harris, with a crossing pass from Hartmann to Brown misfiring just thirty seconds after the initial goal.
 

East Stroudsburg started pressuring Edinboro in the second half of the first period, and would actually grab an 8-7 lead in shots at the half. A pair of headers just missed for the Warriors. Pickett missed on the first one, with Baskey coming up with the save. The second came in the 21st minute, with a header by Neal going wide.

The Warriors finally broke through on Baskey in the 31st minute. She was able to sprawl and stop a shot by Brielyn Hackett, but the ball rolled to her right and Pickett gathered it in and tapped the ball into the left corner of the net to toe the match at 1-1 at the 30:23 mark.

Baskey came up with the save of the match late in the period. Molly Vicari blasted a shot from ten yards out that the sophomore goalkeeper made a diving save on in the 35th minute.   

Edinboro ended the match with a 19-18 advantage in shots. Baskey finished with 5 saves, while Harris had 6.

The Fighting Scots will find out their fate in regards to the NCAA Tournament on Monday night.