ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn.- Homecoming is a week where Crown College alumni come back to the St. Bonifacius campus and remember all of the fantastic memories they made during their time as students. However, on Homecoming Saturday, it was the current student-athletes of the Crown Women's Soccer team who provided a moment that nobody in attendance will soon forget.
Ella Hollander scored the game winning goal with 12 seconds remaining to give Crown a 2-1 victory over Northwestern at Old National Bank Stadium.
The majority of the contest took place with the scoreboard reading 1-0 in favor of the Polars. After a scoreless 36 minutes to start the contest, Crown broke through to take the lead on their home field.
Emma Domka took a pass from
Lexi Shreve and buried it in the lower right corner of the net in the 37
th minute. The Polars took a single goal lead into the halftime break.
In the first 45 minutes, play was tightly contested between two squads who expect to be in the mix at the top of the UMAC Women's Soccer standings in 2024. Crown narrowly outshot Northwestern 4-3 in the first half. The Polars had three shots on goal while the Eagles had one.
The Polars would maintain a 1-0 lead all the way throughout the second half into the late stages of the match. In the 88
th minute, with the Polars sitting two minutes away from a crucial conference victory, the visiting Eagles came up with a clutch, game tying goal. A foul on the Polars' backline gave the Eagles a free kick that they were able to capitalize on. The game was tied with two minutes left to play.
Crown had a couple of opportunities to untie the game and steal a victory but were unsuccessful. After a corner kick that did not produce a goal, it appeared as if the game would end in a tie. However, the Polars won back possession and got fouled and received a free kick just inside the 20-yard line. With only 12 seconds on the clock,
Ella Hollander stepped up to take the free kick. The junior fired the "shot heard around the UMAC". Her ball was tucked in perfectly between the top right section of the crossbar and the Eagles' keeper's outstretched arm. The ball landed in the back of the net and Crown won the conference contest 2-1.
The game between the Polars and the Eagles was the first conference contest of the season for the Crown squad. This matchup saw two teams who qualified for the UMAC Postseason Tournament a season ago and expect to be there once again in 2024. Northwestern defeated Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday in the conference opener and dropped to 1-1 in UMAC play after the loss to the Polars. Crown is 1-0 in UMAC play after their dramatic victory. The Polars victory over the Eagles on Homecoming Saturday marks Crown's first Women's Soccer victory over Northwestern since 2013.
The Polars will look to ride this momentum into their second UMAC contest of the season which will take place on Tuesday, September 24
th against Minnesota-Morris. The game is set for a 1:00 PM start in Morris, Minnesota.
