GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Calvin University women's soccer team punched its ticket into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA III Tournament with a 2-1 overtime win over Illinois Tech in the Regional Final at Calvin Soccer Stadium on Saturday.
 
Calvin (16-4-0) advanced thanks to a goal from Mikaela Waroway (Ann Arbor, Mich./Father Gabriel Richard) in the 96th minute from well outside the 18-yard box that went over the outstretched hands of the Illinois Tech (20-2-1) keeper.
 
"I was just feeling that I wanted to play for my team and put my last effort out there. I saw an opening in the goal so I just went for it and it went right over the keeper," Waroway said. "As soon as I hit it, I thought that might be going in."
 
The Knights opened the match with a strong opening five minutes, but the Scarlet Hawks controlled the run of play for much of the half and cashed in a chance with a goal in the 30th minute by Kelly Hitchcock off a rebound of a shot from Kayla Smith to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
 
Illinois Tech started the second half with several more chances early, but the Knights started to gain more control in the minutes that followed and found the equalizer in the 57th minute on a goal from Ellery Boeving (Howell, Mich./Howell/Eastern Michigan University) off the rebound of a Waroway shot to tie the match 1-1.
 
The teams continued to trade chances through the end of regulation but headed into sudden-victory overtime with the score still tied at 1-1.
 
Five minutes into the overtime, Waroway secured a loose ball in the middle of the field and sailed her shot over the keeper's head under the cross bar for the winning goal.
 
Illinois Tech outshot the Knights 20-8 for the match in shots at goal and 10-5 in shots on goal, but Calvin keeper Kalex Dodge (Jackson, Mich./Leslie) was up to the task throughout the match and stopped nine of the 10 shots she faced.
 
Waroway's goal was her team-leading 11th of the season and her sixth game-winning goal.
 
COACH'S COMMENT: "Illinois Tech is an incredible team," Calvin head coach Emily Ottenhoff said. "They won 20 games and they haven't given up a lot of goals. That was a really tough opponent and I thought they had the run of play for most of the first half. We challenged our team at halftime to make a good accounting of themselves – I don't think we were competing hard enough. And I'm really pleased with our group in finding a goal and then it's kind of a crap shoot at that point. We both had chances late in the game and in overtime. It comes down to a moment and Mikaela was able to put it in the back of the net."
 
NEXT UP: Calvin women's soccer will advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA III Tournament next weekend.