2014 Heartland Conference Women's Soccer All-Tournament Team

NCAA DII Women's Soccer Selection Show (Monday, 6:00 p.m. CST)

AUSTIN, Texas – It was a day filled with sweat, grit and determination that ultimately finished with smiles on the faces of the St. Edward's Women's Soccer team. It was a match truly worthy of a championship title and WHYTNEIGH DUFFIE's header from five yards out in overtime earned the Hilltoppers a postseason berth and the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship.
 
The start of play featured a couple injuries for Dallas Baptist (14-4-1). Lindsey Eccles and JENNIFER BOUDREAU went up for a header in the midfield area and Eccles came away with what looked to be a very serious injury to her nose. Just 30 seconds later, LORRIE SANTOY rose up to catch a deflected cross and accidently hit Dixie Kurrus in the head. Kurrus had to be helped off the field but would later return to the game. 
 
St. Edward's (14-4) was the aggressor early on as they put multiple shots on goal in the first 12 minutes, but RIANA SOOBADOO and LAUREN HELLER were denied each time by Dallas Baptist goalkeeper Kerry Edwards.
 
Ashley Cox was turned away in the 21^st minute by LORRIE SANTOY as she corralled the shot through a crowd of players. The Hilltoppers quickly countered and drew a corner that found the head of ALLY LINDQUIST but sailed over the crossbar.
 
The two teams traded multiple shots through the first half and well into the second half. The Patriots nearly came away with an opportunity in the 63^rd minute, but KATIE DONAHUE's tackle slowed the attack, despite drawing a yellow card.
 
At the end of regulation, the Hilltoppers narrowly missed two additional chances to take the lead. However, their aggression would be rewarded in the overtime period.
 
In the 98^th minute, JULIA HARRISON played a through ball to the far right corner that found the feet of a streaking LAUREN HELLER. After a quick scrum in the corner between Heller and a Dallas Baptist defender, she squeezed by and sent a cross into the middle of the box. WHYTNEIGH DUFFIE narrowly outran her defender and her header found the back of the net near the far post to give the Hilltoppers the 1-0 golden goal victory.
 
Heller and Duffie were nice enough to stick around and give us a play-by-play of the goal. Heller's version of it was, "It was a great play that started off with Julia's through ball. At first I thought it was going out but I figured I'd give it a go. I finally caught up to it and beat the defender with speed, cut it back past her and saw Whit while I was on the end line." Duffie told us, "I kept telling myself to get in the box once I saw Lauren cut it back. She put a cross right at the top and everything went to slow motion for me. I hit it to the opposite corner because we practice it all the time."
 
It was the Hilltoppers second-straight golden goal victory as they held off St. Mary's in the Heartland Conference semifinal on Thursday. St. Edward's outshot the Patriots, 16-8 and won eight corner kicks without yielding just one to the Patriots.
 
Head Coach Nick Cowell spoke to us after the game as well. "Whenever we play Dallas Baptist it's usually a close, low scoring game. They were very unfortunate with the injuries early on, but they hung in there and it was a fierce competition.
We wore them down late and we needed some individual brilliance to close out the game." Cowell went on to praise his entire team for their efforts this season saying, "To be honest this is one of the most gratifying championships we've had. We've had to integrate a number of new players this year and we've worked through a number of injuries. However, we're getting there now and we've found the will to win, which most good teams have."
 
When asked about the NCAA Tournament berth, Cowell reiterated, "We have a lot of people who've never been to the NCAA's so they're a little new to this. These two tournament wins were really good indicators for what the NCAA Tournament will be like. Sometime you'll have to win on talent, many of them you'll need to grind it out. I expect we'll be in a lot of close competition."
 
St. Edward's will find out where its regional destination will be this Monday. After the championship game was concluded, the Hilltoppers learned that they had four representatives on the Heartland Conference All-Tournament team. LAUREN HELLER, WHYTNEIGH DUFFIE, MEGAN ANDERSON and JULIA HARRISON earned their honors over the weekend and JULIA HARRISON was named the tournament's most valuable player. Check the St. Edward's athletics website for more information about regional action later this week.

The NCAA DII Women's Soccer Selection show will take place Monday at 6:00 p.m. CST on the NCAA Website.