Naperville Central 11 Mother McAuley 10 (2 OT)

Nikki Nelson scored with 0:17 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 10-10, then scored the game winner in the second overtime with just 0:16 seconds left as #5 Naperville Central stunned #3 Mother McAuley last night in Naperville.

The Redhawks were forced to come from behind, as the Mighty Macs' Laura Perez started the game off with three straight goals, and Maggie Wood added another score midway through the first period as McAuley jumped out to a 4-0 advantage. Central's Sarah Pucci finally got the Redhawks on the board with a late goal in the first period to make the score 4-1 after one quarter of play.

Perez and Wood would both score in the second period, giving McAuley a 6-2 lead at one point late in the half, but Central's Kara Wilson scored twice before halftime to cut the lead to 6-3 at the break.

Central responded at the start of the third quarter, as Wilson scored on a counterattack in the opening minute, while Nelson would add two straight goals to tie the game at 6-6 less than two minutes into the period. Lily Cortes answered for the Mighty Macs with a goal, but Wilson tied things at 7-7 with 1:37 remaining in the third. Then, with under 0:30 seconds left, McAuley regained the lead as Perez tallied her fifth goal of the evening to make the score 8-7.

The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter, as Wilson tied the score at 8-8 in the first minute, followed by Cortes' second goal of the half to put McAuley back on top. Central's Denise Oldenburg tied the score at 9-9 with a goal from two meters just seconds later, and the teams would fail to capitalize on scoring opportunites before the end of regulation and the game carried on into overtime.

In the first extra session, Wood scored from four meters out to put McAuley ahead 10-9, but Nelson would score in the closing seconds of the first overtime to even things at 10-10. Both teams would draw an ejection early in the second overtime, but neither could score, and then Nelson finally scored the game-winning goal with 0:16 seconds left to play. McAuley would have one last opportunity to send the game into a third overtime, but their last chance was deflected back to Central goalie Brittany Walk as time expired.

Wilson led the Redhawks with 5 goals, while Nelson scored 4 times and Oldenburg and Pucci added one goal apiece. Perez led the Mighty Macs with 5 goals, with Wood adding 3 tallies and Cortes scoring twice. Brittany Walk had 12 saves for Naperville Central, while Bridget Kelly stopped 10 shots for McAuley.