Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado to Meet in #BigSkySoccer Championship Game
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GREELEY, Colo. (November 8, 2019) – For the second-straight year and third time in the last four seasons, the top two seeds in the Big Sky Soccer Championship fell in the semifinals as No. 3 Eastern Washington and No. 4 Northern Colorado recorded upsets Friday to earn berths in Sunday’s title match.
Eastern Washington (11-7-2) pulled off the first upset of the day with a 2-1 overtime win over No. 2 Sacramento State following a golden goal strike from freshman Maddie Morgan in the 102nd minute.
Scoring her third goal of the tournament, Morgan sent the Eagles to their third championship game in the last four seasons.
The loss ended Sacramento State’s (11-2-6) record-breaking 17-match unbeaten streak that spanned back to the first week of the season.
Eastern Washington had to rally from a 1-0 halftime deficit as Erika Munoz gave the Hornets a 1-0 advantage at the break with a goal in 41st minute.
Big Sky Newcomer of the Year Madison Kem netted the equalizer for the Eagles in the 62nd minute off a corner kick from Mya Elder-Hammond.
The Eagles’ second goal of the afternoon also came off a corner with Sariah Keister flicking the ball to Morgan inside the box for the game winner.
This will be the fourth-straight year the No. 3 seed has advanced to the championship game. Since 2004, the No. 3 seed has appeared in every title match except for 2015 when the top two seeds competed for the NCAA Tournament berth.
The curse of the top seed continued Friday as Montana fell victim in a 2-1 overtime loss to Northern Colorado in a rematch of last year’s championship game.
Taylor Bray advanced Northern Colorado to its third-straight title match and fourth in the last five years with a golden goal in the 100th minute off a cross from Kaitlyn Meeder.
The top seed has appeared in the championship game just twice in the last six seasons and has won the title just three times since 2007.
Northern Colorado (8-10-4) struck first in Friday’s second semifinal with a goal from Maddie Barkow in the 15th minute.
Montana (7-6-6) looked to even up the match by earning a penalty kick in the 61st minute. However, Ashley Franza made a key diving save before the Griz tied the contest in the 80th minute on a header from Alexa Coyle.
Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado will square off in the championship game for the second time as the top-seeded Eagles defeated the Bears 3-0 in 2017.
Eastern Washington looks for its third crown after claiming back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017. Northern Colorado earned its lone title in 2015.
The two teams played to a 1-1 draw in their conference opener back on Sept. 27.
Sunday’s championship kicks off at 12 p.m. MT at Jackson Stadium. The match will air on Eleven Sports (DirecTV 623), Pluto TV channel 531 and WatchBigSky.com. The Big Sky champion will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
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