The #12 Aquinas women's soccer team battled through a tough possession game against #19 Oregon Tech and ultimately fell on Tuesday evening (Nov. 30), in the NAIA National Tournament Championship Bracket Opening Round match-up. The #7 seeded Saints ended regulation tied 0-0 with the #10 seeded Owls, but OIT scored the golden goal in the first overtime to advance to the quarterfinals.

Aquinas finishes its season with a 21-2-1 record, which was the most wins in a single season. Throughout the season, the Saints finished with an 11-0-1 conference record to claim the WHAC regular season title and the doubled down to win the WHAC Tournament Championship. This was the fourth consecutive NAIA National Tournament appearance for AQ and now has a record of 4-4 in the big dance all-time. This was the furthest the Saints have advanced in the NAIA National Tournament, ending the season as one of ten teams remaining in all of the NAIA.

Scoring chances were hard to come by for both teams as there were only five total shots in the first 45 minutes. It was a battle for possession the entire first half as both teams gave great effort from end to end of the pitch. The lone shot on goal for the Saints came in the 29th minute off the foot of Sydney Shenk. The Owls had two shots of their own on net in the opening half, but Braeleigh McCoy stood her ground to keep them off the scoreboard.

In the second half it was the same story as both teams battled to keep the ball. As the teams got tired, more scoring chances came about with the teams creating opportunities. McCoy made another three saves in the second half including stopping a breakaway in the 74th minute to keep the score tied up. 

The game ended up going into overtime, which was the Saints' fourth time going into extra time this season. OIT dominated the extra period outshooting AQ 3-0 in the six minutes played. Kyra Mull of Oregon Tech scored the golden goal in the 96th minute as the ball pinned around in the box and ended up in the right corner of the net to end the Saints' season.

McCoy (6-1-1) made a total of five saves in the effort and took her first loss of the season. Alyx Burkhartzmeyer for Oregon Tech made the lone save needed to take the win.

Aquinas took four total shots with one of them being on net as Oregon Tech shot a total of 11 times with six being on net. AQ attempted four corner kicks as OIT attempted two, while the Owls collected 10 fouls compared to the Saints' eight.