Grand Rapids, Mich. — No goals after 90 minutes, again. One goal each in double overtime, followed by a heart-stopping penalty shootout to decide who would reach the WHAC Tournament championship game.

The No. 8-ranked Aquinas women's soccer team came out on the wrong side of a wild postseason showdown with the (RV) University of Northwestern Ohio Racers on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 4) at the AQ Athletic Field. After drawing 0-0 in regulation and 1-1 after two overtime periods, the No. 2-seeded Saints lost a dramatic penalty kick contest against the No. 3-seeded Racers, 7-6 after nine rounds.

The Saints are now 15-0-4 overall on the season. UNOH goes to 12-5-3 overall.

Struggling to break each other down, both teams couldn't find a goal in the first half, nor the second half. A copy and paste of what happened when AQ and UNOH met in the regular season on Oct. 7 when the score finished tied at 0-0.

Unlike the regular season, a winner needed to be found on Saturday with a spot in the WHAC Tournament title game on the line.

The first overtime of 10 minutes came and went. Nothing changed, 0-0.

The second overtime: Fireworks. UNOH's Vivian Purmomen thought she was going to be the hero when she did something that only two other players have done to the Saints so far this season — score against Aquinas. What could have been the game-winning goal in the 103rd minute was matched emphatically by AQ senior Laia Cunill in the 105th minute. With the odds against her, Cunill powered in a free kick from distance to equalizer. 

Aquinas kept pouring on the pressure with six out of its 14 shots coming in the second overtime. But, another goal never came and a penalty shootout was needed.

AQ sophomore goalkeeper Kayla Shuk made three saves in regulation and across the two overtimes before stepping aside to have senior goalie Alison Bishop face the penalty shots.

After Sydney Shenk scored to open the shootout, Bishop stopped the first shot she faced. UNOH recovered quickly by evening the score at 1-1 after two rounds.

The process repeated itself in the third and fourth rounds with AQ jumped out to a 2-1 lead on a goal by Brittney Probst only for the Racers to even score at 2-2 after four rounds.

With the pressure on, the next nine penalty shots all went in. Cunill, Hentemann, Stephanie Ramos and Emma Merchant all scored for Aquinas. Hentemann got a do-over after the UNOH goalkeeper Sophia Eisner jumped off her line early and made a save that was called back. Ramos clipped the top of the crossbar and watched the ball just barely cross over the goal line.

The intense postseason affair was finally decided in Round 9. Aquinas agonizingly watched its attempt get saved and the Racers celebrate when Hedda Isaksson converted from 12 yards out.

Both teams finished with 14 shots, but AQ edged out a 6-4 shots on goal advantage.UNOH had four more shots in regulation (12-8). Both teams also had 15 fouls each.

Purmonen's goal snapped AQ's 15-game shutout streak. The Saints hadn't allowed a goal in 1,478 minutes of game time (24.6 hours) before the UNOH striker found the back of the net in the second overtime.

The Racers advance to the conference tournament championship game and will host No. 4-seeded Lawrence Tech, who upset top-seeded Siena Heights 0-0 (4-1 PKs) in the other semifinal played on Saturday. The winner of the WHAC Tournament title game will get an automatic bid into the NAIA National Tournament.

As for the Saints, Aquinas will have to wait and see if they will get one of the 13 at-large bids into the NAIA National Tournament. If they do, it will be the program's sixth straight appearance.

The NAIA National Tournament selection show will be Monday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m. on the NAIA YouTube Channel, with the link also being posted the NAIA social media platforms.