Grand Rapids, Mich. — The No. 5-rated Aquinas College women's soccer team faced off with the No. 24-rated Racers of the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) for the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Championship on Wednesday (Nov. 13). The teams pushed the contests to the limit as the finish came by result of penalty kicks. The contest finally came to a resounding end nearing the three hour mark as AQ clinched the tournament title with the final kick in the PK's to up their penalty score to 3-2.

Aquinas 1 (3), UNOH 1 (2)

The two WHAC titans once again found themselves clashing at the AQ Athletic Field. Formerly, the Saints defeated the Racers 1-0 via a penalty kick due to foul on Saturday (Oct. 5). Given the WHAC tournament, the two teams once again met in Saints territory, this time for the tournament championship.

With the initial kickoff, the championship bout was underway. AQ established control of both the game and the ball early. Aquinas had an early attempt at a goal, but the shot was blocked and UNOH then went on a counter attack, racing up the pitch. With a quick move, the Racers stunned the Saints with a goal in the ninth minute of the contest.

In the entirety of this season, this was the second time that Aquinas was on the receiving end of the opening score. The last time AQ was scored on first was in week two, where AQ took on then No. 15-rated Indiana Wesleyan (Aug. 28). 

With the opening score, the Racers had their hopes of regular season revenge. Returning to midfield, the Saints looked to regroup and regather, facing an unfamiliar tension as the Saints have only faced this kind of situation once previously this season. 

Continuously throughout the first period, both UNOH and AQ managed runs and had close attempts on net. The continued efforts resulted in a gridlock for both teams. In the 34th minute, the gridlock would dissolve as Avery Tack found a header at the top of the box from a Maeva Lichtensteiger corner. Tack managed to give the ball some height as it went on to fall deep in the left side of the net. The Saints had conquered the uneven uphill battle by bringing the score to a tie, but the challenge of securing the game was still at hand. The battles of the pitch continued and no team found a goal in the remaining time of the first half.

Entering the second half, the tension remained but shifted. The Saints had earned their way back to 1-1, but there was still a whole additional half of regulation to play. The second half was full of attempts and heightened play as both teams looked to find their game winning goal. No team managed the feat. 

The final horn signified the end of regulation and the beginnings of golden goal overtime. To the un-introduced, the rules of engagement for overtime are two 10 minute halves played to golden goal, the first team to score wins - do or die. As the extra time went on, emotions and flares rose, but neither team managed to find their golden opportunity. Both 10 minute periods of overtime came and went, turning the championship game to penalty kicks.

The two teams are all too familiar with such a story as last year, AQ and UNOH came down to penalty kicks in the WHAC Tournament Semifinals. There, the Racers stunned the Saints and defeated the team 7-6. Aquinas looked to flip the script and turn the tide, while the Racers looked to double back.

In the shootout, the Saints had won the coin toss and elected to kick second. The Racers had their first attempt heroically blocked by Aquinas keeper Kayla Shuk. Sydney Shenk had the first offensive go for AQ and showed just why she is the back-to-back WHAC Offensive Player of the Year with a slider into the bottom right ninety.

The pressure began to mount as now UNOH had returned to the disadvantage. With their second approach, the Racers looked to get back into contention, but Shuk once again read the approach and tallied two saves in a row.

Next, Ingrid Hentemann approached for AQ, as she out maneuvered the keeper into the bottom right. UNOH found their first penalty goal in their third attempt and kept their hopes alive by stopping the following AQ shot. The teams continued their trading of attempts until Shuk collected her third save in the fifth UNOH shot. The fifth penalty shot for Aquinas was taken by Brittney Probst. The Ada native drove in the shot with pace to the left side and brought the marathon match to a close. 

The No. 5-rated Saints had secured their fifth WHAC Tournament Championship in school history. With this tournament championship, the Saints have secured both the Regular Season and Tournament Championships for the first time since 2022.

AQ is not done yet as they will march their season into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament as the team will continue to chase a national banner. 

WHAC Regular Season Titles: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2011, 2007, 1996
WHAC Tournament Titles: 2024 2022, 2021, 2018, 2007

By the Numbers

• Aquinas out shot UNOH 13 (5) - 10 (6) in regulation
• This is the Saints first game of the season that resulted to penalty kicks
• This game was only the second time this season the team started behind
• AQ had seven corners to the Racers four
• Tacks equalizer header brings her to five goals on the season, with nine goals in her career
• Shuk was a force to be reckoned with as she collected five of six in regulation and three of five in the shootout

Up Next

AQ will now await details for the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament. Those details will be brought to light when possible. Stay tuned for those details to come.