Women's Soccer | 11/2/2025 1:05:00 AM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Both of Saturday's Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) women's soccer quarterfinal matches went into overtime, with fifth-seeded Franciscan University defeating Chatham University in a shootout while Saint Vincent College scored late in double overtime to defeat Allegheny College 1-0.
With the wins, Franciscan (6-8-4) and Saint Vincent (15-3-1) advance into the PAC semifinals Wednesday night. Franciscan will take on the number one seed Grove City College (11-4-2) and Saint Vincent will travel to face the number two seed Waynesburg University (14-2-2).
The afternoon quarterfinal between Franciscan and Chatham was a defensive stalemate that was scoreless at halftime. The Cougars did manage a 4-3 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes.
The match remained scoreless through the second half, largely due to outstanding play by Chatham sophomore keeper Kyanni Escudero (Gilbertsville, Pa./Pope John Paul II), who made four saves in the second half. After the teams played 90 scoreless minutes in regulation, the match went to overtime and Escudero made three more stops in the first OT period.
In the second overtime, both Escudero and Franciscan keeper Callie Giguere (Piqua, Ohio/Lehman Catholic) made one save a piece keeping the match scoreless and sending it into a penalty kick shootout to decide the winner.
The shootout began with a Franciscan make but was followed by two Chatham misses sandwiched around a Baron miss. Franciscan then made their next three attempts, the last coming by senior Kierra Wilson (Indianapolis, Ind./Homeschool), which clinched the 4-2 shootout win and sent the Barons into the semifinals.
The battle between the goalkeepers went to Giguere, who made four saves, while Escudero recorded nine saves in the tough-luck decision.
Franciscan’s semifinal match at Grove City will be a rematch from October 15th when the Wolverines scored a 2-0 victory over the Barons. It is also a rematch of the 2023 PAC Tournament final, which was also won by Grove City by a 4-2 score.
Saturday night’s semifinal between Saint Vincent and Allegheny was another closely contested scoreless match that nearly had to be decided in PKs before a late Saint Vincent goal decided the outcome. Both teams had 14 shots in regulation but neither were able to find the back of the net due to strong goalkeeper play.
Allegheny’s Alex Augustine (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) stopped three shots in regulation, while Saint Vincent keeper Rylin Warner (Granville, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) made five saves, including four in the second half. In the first overtime period, Warner was tested again but turned aside four shots to keep the match going into a second overtime.
As the clock ran under 90 seconds to play in the second extra period, the match looked destined to go to a shootout. But that's when Saint Vincent junior Emma Koller (Baltimore, Md./Eastern Tech) made the play of the game. She controlled a loose ball in Allegheny’s end, worked around a Gator defender to get space around the top of the box and unleashed a right-footed strike that snuck under the cross bar and into the back of the net for the match-clinching goal.
In addition to Koller’s heroics, Saint Vincent also leaned on the efforts of Warner in net to come away with the win. The sophomore keeper made 10 saves in the victory, her third match this season with double-digit stops.
One of those other matches that Kohler made 10+ saves was in their previous meeting this season with Waynesburg. In the regular season matchup between the teams on October 11th, Warner stopped 13 shots but the Yellow Jackets came away with a 2-1 victory.