(Sugar Grove, IL) –The anticipated match-up between a pair of nationally-ranked NJCAA Division II women's soccer teams lived up to it's billing. Waubonsee Community College, ranked 12^th in the latest NJCAA Division II poll, fell 1-0 in a thrilling overtime match against 18^th ranked Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC). The loss snapped the Chiefs' (4-2) four-game winning streak in the process. The battle tested Blue Storm (4-4-1), which has played arguably the toughest schedule of any team in the country to this point, pulled out the victory after 95 hard-fought minutes of action. Of SWIC's nine opponents so far, six are nationally ranked teams. Among those formidable foes is the NJCAA's top-ranked Division I program in Eastern Florida State College, while SWIC also handed Kaskaskia College their only loss thus far.   

The first half was a defensive battle as the backs for both team thwarted nearly every potential scoring opportunity. Waubonsee keeper Paige MacRitchie made a pair of outstanding saves in the opening minutes of play to help keep the game scoreless. Neither team was able to generate much offensively after that as the first half ended in a scoreless tie. The Chiefs best scoring chance came in the 53^rd minute when a Blue Storm foul gave Waubonsee a free kick. But Sarai Munoz' shot from 19 yards out sailed over the crossbar. A few minutes later the Chiefs' Daisy Quinonez, who took over in net from MacRitchie to start the second half, made a diving stop in traffic after a SWIC corner kick. Two minutes later Munoz launched a 20-yard shot from the left side of the pitch that hit the left post and bounded out of play.

In the 70^th minute Quinonez made a stellar sliding block to stop a breakaway by the Blue Storm's Isabella Wilhite. The sophomore keeper then made two more saves in the next minute of play as SWIC stepped up their attack. The intense battle remained scoreless as the game headed into the final 15 minute of regulation. In the 79^th minute Quinonez turned back two more shots off of a corner kick, securing the second attempt with a diving stop to her left. Waubonsee got a corner kick in the 84^th minute that pinballed around in traffic as keeper Rhiannon Smith batted away two header shots by the Chiefs. SWIC almost ended the contest in the final seconds of regulation when two Blue Storm players got free on a breakway. But the Chiefs' returning All-American defender Amy Flores sprinted back and cleared the ball away just before a Blue Storm player could get off the potential game-winning shot from five yards out, sending the match into overtime.

Just seconds into the sudden death extra session Quinonez made another diving stop as SWIC made a bid to end the game. The Blue Storm then won the match with a goal five minutes into overtime when Quinonez raced out to stop a shot and got tangled up with a SWIC player. By the time she scrambled to her feet she could not get back in time to stop Megan O'Donnell's rebound shot from 7 yards away on the right side. MacRitchie finished with six saves in the first half, while Quinonez was credited with 11 saves in a superb second half performance.

Waubonsee is in action again next Thursday, September 22 when they travel to Naperville to take on the North Central College Junior Varsity under the lights in a 7:00 p.m. match. Coach Brad Schlemmer's Chiefs return home next Friday, September 23, hosting the Marian (WI) University Junior Varsity starting 5:00 p.m.