OLATHE – Nicole Kelly broke a 2-2 tie during the 83rd minute of play on Wednesday to send the (22) Raven Women's Soccer team to the Heart Postseason Tournament Championship match as they earned a 3-2 win over (18) MNU.
Playing down a man due to a red card given to Andrea Ruiz during the 50th minute, the Pioneers were able to tie the game with a short-handed goal during the 67th minute setting up a back-and-forth final 23 minutes of play.
Benedictine struck first during the 15th minute. Emily Ambuul gathered a cross through the Pioneers defense and was able to connect with Megan Homoly to put the Ravens in front. The goal gave the Ravens their first advantage over the Pioneers in their two meetings this season as MNU scored first during the regular-season meeting on Legacy Field on Oct. 16.
Kelly netted her first goal of the match during the 34th minute to push the Ravens advantage to two before the Pioneers were able to answer during the 38th minute to send the match to halftime with a one-goal difference.
The Pioneers equalizer came on a free kick that got through the Ravens defense as Savannah Moxley was able to beat Benedictine keeper Olivia Berry to the ball to even the score at 2-2.
After trading possession near midfield, the Ravens were able to get the ball deep on the attack where the Pioneers failed to clear a cross pass that set up the game-winner from Kelly.
Benedictine finished the match with a 17-14 advantage in shots with a 9-6 advantage in shots on goal. Kelly finished with a match-high 10 shots with five on goal.
In their first meeting, Pioneer keeper Kailee Barnhard recorded 10 saves, this time around the Ravens were able to beat her three times as she finished with six saves. On the other end, Ashley Rehagen and Olivia Berry combined in goal. Rehagen tallied three saves in the first half while Berry added a save in the second half to earn the win.
The Heart Postseason Tournament continues on Saturday against the winner of the other Semifinal between top-seeded CMU and No. 4-seeded Evangel University. A win by CMU sends the Ravens to Fayette, Mo., while a win by Evangel would allow the Ravens to host the Heart Championship Match.
