Game Statistics
Photo Gallery
CANYON, Texas (Nov. 8) -- Summer White had the go-ahead score and Nathalie Bernigaud the clinching one to lift Central Oklahoma to a thrilling shootout victory over West Texas A&M here Sunday afternoon in the finals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Bronchos prevailed 4-2 in penalty kicks after the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie through 90 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute overtimes to earn the overall league title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II national tournament.
UCO, which lost a 1-0 overtime decision to the regular season champion Lady Buffs in October, will take a 14-6-2 record into this week's six-team South Central Regional that will be held at a site to be determined. The entire 48-team tournament field will be announced Monday.
Katy Kashwer and Tiffanie Meek scored the first two penalty kicks and goalkeeper Megan Riley knocked one WTAMU shot away to give UCO a quick 2-1 lead in the shootout, but the Bronchos missed their third try and the Lady Buffs scored to tie it a 2-all.
White converted to put UCO back on top and WTAMU missed, with Bernigaud then putting in the fourth goal that wrapped up victory and set off a wild on-field celebration by the Bronchos.
"We pretty much knew we weren't going to get into the national tournament without winning today and our team left everything on the field," said UCO coach Mike Cook, whose team won its fifth league tournament crown. "We got great effort from everybody and pulled out a huge win. I just can't say enough about how this team has stayed together this year and we're looking forward to keeping our season going."
The Bronchos took a 1-0 lead 29:24 into the contest when Shayna Kindsvater knocked in a goal from 12 yards out that bounced over the goalkeeper. That 1-0 lead looked like it might hold up as Riley made five saves in keeping WTAMU at bay, but the Lady Buffs tied it in the 78th minute on a 25-yard free kick.
UCO had two shots on goal in the first overtime and Riley made two saves in the second extra session to set up the shootout.
Defensive standout Alli Miller was named Most Valuable Player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Riley, White, Whitney Craft and Dominique Dinka.
