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St. Scholastica Academy and the Northshore Lady Panthers squared off in a tremendous bi-district round contest Friday night with the Doves coming away with a 1-0 victory at Hunter Stadium on the St. Paul’s campus. SSA junior Emily Descant was the difference maker as she booted home the game’s lone goal in the 35th minute to help the Doves advance to the regional round.

SSA takes on the winner of the St. Thomas More-H.L. Bourgeois game.

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Descant described her winning goal on a free kick, which was played in by Danielle Beatty.

“It was kind of a lucky goal. We had a free kick into the box. All the players were just fumbling it, hitting off of everybody. I just saw an open part in the goal and kicked it and prayed. I kicked it in the upper left corner and it ricocheted off one of our players,” Descant said.

Descant said it was one of the biggest goals of her career.

“It was the game winner and it was a playoff game so it was really important that we got it,” Descant added.

SSA (11-7-1), the No. 12 seed and defending Division I state champion, had all it could handle with a gutsy performance by Northshore, the No. 21 seed, which finished the season 9-8. The teams tied for third place in District 7-I with 9-5 records.

The district rivals split their two regular season games with the Lady Panthers taking the Dec. 8 match 2-1 at SSA and the Doves came back to take a 2-0 victory Jan. 15 at Northshore.

The third encounter was another low scoring affair no different than the other two with both squads giving it their all in a superb match. Both clubs matched the intensity of the other with neither team managing to gain the momentum until Descant’s late scoring effort.

SSA coach Mike Ortner said it was a tremendous game.

“I thought we had some chances on goal in the first half and we finally got one to drop for us at a crucial time right before halftime, which kind of changed the momentum. It was a big time goal,” Ortner said.

Beatty, the Doves’ senior midfielder, who signed Wednesday with the University of Southern Mississippi, played an outstanding match controlling the ball near midfield finding her teammates to keep pressure on the Northshore defense.

Ortner praised Beatty’s effort.

“Danielle played great through balls that we were close to getting onto a number of times. She really controlled the midfield and I thought that was the difference in the game,” Ortner added.

Ortner said Beatty has really come on since recovering from an earlier season ankle injury when she suffered torn ligaments. Doves’ senior Kim Belmont, who is out with a knee injury, also signed her letter of intent to attend USM along with Beatty.

Ortner also highlighted the play of Sara Kuebel, his junior goalkeeper.

“Sara came up with a number of big saves that she handled cleanly with no rebounds. She was solid again for us,” Ortner said.

In addition to Kuebel, Ortner said Natalie Childress and Camille Shepherd turned in solid defensive performances for the Doves.

Kuebel said her team’s defense was phenomenal.

“They didn’t let Northshore get off many high percentage shots. They were great on free kicks and were just really solid,” Kuebel said.

Northshore played their hearts out until the final whistle and had one last gasp effort with less than 30 seconds to play being awarded a corner kick after applying some pressure in the waning moments. NHS’ Sarah Bonura took the corner kick and put the ball in position giving the Lady Panthers’ a shot.

Kuebel was asked what was going through her mind, while in net during the closing seconds.

“I’m thinking everything needs to be out. This is the last chance they have. I gave it all I could and my teammates did as well. My defense did a good job clearing it. I think Camille (Shepherd) may have gotten up to clear it out,” Kubel said.

“We wanted to prove that we are a better team than we have shown to this point in the season. This victory helps us prove ourselves and enables us to move on in the playoffs,” said the junior keeper.

Northshore junior goalkeeper Lauren Davis was also lights out in the Lady Panthers’ net.

SSA had more scoring opportunities throughout the match and maintained possession longer, but were turned away time and again by the Panthers’ defense, stabilized by Davis in net.

NHS coach Jeff Dunlop talked about Davis’ performance.

“I just couldn’t be any prouder of my girls’ effort. Our keeper was phenomenal. I don’t know any other way to describe her play other than amazing. She made big saves,” Dunlop said.

“We came close at the end of the game and they held us out. We had a shot at the net and it was that close. The game could have gone either way,” Dunlop added.

Dunlop said both teams played extremely well.

“Congratulations to coach Mike Ortner and SSA. They played a great game. I’m very proud of our girls. We’ve had a terrific season. It shows you just how good our district is when a No. 12 seed can meet a No. 21 seed and its still a 1-nil game,” Dunlop said.

Davis said she and her teammates gave it their all.

“We gave it our best. It was just an unlucky goal that happened. I went out and punched it out and then a girl that was unmarked came and shot it again. I kind of hit it and then she shot it and it hit off someone’s back and went in,” Davis said.

“SSA is a very good team. I think we are very evenly matched. They have a lot of speed and a lot skill. They are an all-around good team. If we had to lose to someone it’s probably best it was to them,” Davis added.