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JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – No. 7 Rockhurst University beat No. 5 Bellarmine University, 1-0, in overtime to claim the 2018 Great Lakes Valley Conference Women's Soccer Championship on Sunday, Nov. 4 at Woehrle Athletic Complex in Jeffersonville, Ind. The Hawks earned their program’s first GLVC Women’s Soccer Championship title and are the lowest seeded team in league history to do so.
Unlike the men’s final earlier in the day, which saw four goals scored, this women’s championship match was scoreless through 98 minutes of action until a free kick for Rockhurst setup the game-winning goal.
With 2:20 left in the first overtime period, Bellarmine was called for a foul 30-yards out on the right side of the pitch. The ball from Cathy Rometti was lofted into the box and got deflected toward goal off the head of a Knights defender. Fortunately for the Hawks, Maddie Dierkes was crashing the goal at just the right pace, controlled the balled to the ground with her chest and poked it into the back of the net off the bounce for the win.
Overall, Rockhurst had the advantage against Bellarmine in shots (10-9) and shots on goal (5-2), but it was the Knights that had six corner kicks to none for Hawks. Rockhurst goalie Rosie Breheny collected two saves for the shutout, while Bellarmine’s Elyssa Francis made four.
The seventh-seeded Hawks (11-7-2), which finally garnered the elusive Conference crown in their 13th appearance in the postseason event since joining the GLVC in 2004, earned the league's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament. They will find out their opponent during Monday evening's NCAA Division II Selection Show at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The championship game can be replayed on the GLVC Sports Network by clicking the “On Demand” tab and selecting the match. Visit the official Championship Tournament homepage at
GLVCsports.com/2018soccer for more details.