09/20/06

After leading the Saints in shots through the first six games of the season, junior midfielder Shannon Kresky just couldn’t find the ball at her feet for most of the game.

She went without a shot for 109 minutes and 20 seconds as the Wednesday evening game against undefeated and unscored upon Augsburg College stretched past 11 p.m. and toward the close of a second overtime period at Public Schools Stadium in West Duluth.

Like a bolt of lightening out of the crystal-clear night sky, from out of nowhere Kresky broke free behind her defender and with 40 seconds remaining in the second overtime gathered in a perfect lob over everyone from teammate Robin Johnson and beat Auggies keeper Maggi DeGroot to break the tie and give the Saints a 2-1 victory.

St. Scholastica entered the game knowing that Augsburg had yet to surrender a goal all season and, coupled with the exact same feat by their men’s team, entered the national spotlight as the only NCAA Division-III school with both their men’s and women’s teams still undefeated and unscored upon.

When the Auggies snuck a goal past the Saints’ Kelly Momsen for a 1-0 lead in the 57^th minute, things looked dim for the home team.

Augsburg had out shot the Saints by a 19 to 1 margin in the first half and, though the Saints picked up the pace in the opening minutes of the second half, the visitors were still maintaining a severe possession and shot advantage over St. Scholastica.

Perhaps one touch is all the Saints need, though.

Less than seven minutes after falling behind, Johnson let a long ball sent from Becky Fisher’s free kick 40 yards out slide past her as she beat her defender and pushed the ball past DeGroot for the tying goal.

The Saints had life, and the energy from the goal as well as the knowledge they’d broken through against a team that had been enjoying such a defensive streak, buoyed their play and for a long period in the second half the Saints seemed to have the advantage.

However, neither team was able to break the deadlock in regulation which took them into the first 10 minute overtime in which the Saints finally had an advantage in shots, 3 to 2.

Fatigue was clearly settling in over the second overtime period as long balls from earlier in the game were getting shorter, long runs were getting shorter, and as time passed under one minute to play, resignation that the game would finish knotted at 1 may have had more than a few players thinking about a fitful night’s sleep thinking of missed opportunities.

And then, in the center of the field, Johnson broke into space with the ball, turned toward the offensive end and sent a long pass toward the penalty kick hashmark hoping that the streaking white jersey she saw downfield could get there first.

The white jersey was Kresky, and she did.

Momsen had a career-night in goal with 18 saves and picked up the win for the Saints (5-1-1, 2-0-0 UMAC). For the Auggies (5-1-1, 1-0-1 MIAC), DeGroot finished with five saves but surrendered her first and second goals of the season to take the loss.