Salem, VA – A late deficit, an even-later equalizer, overtime drama, penalty kicks and, in the end, heartbreak for Messiah women's soccer.
 
Despite rallying from a 1-0 deficit with less than seven minutes to play No. 6 Messiah College dropped a National Championship classic in the hardest of ways on Saturday, losing 5-4 in penalty kicks to No. 8 Washington-St. Louis. The decision ended Messiah's impressive season at 22-3, and it also kept the Falcons oh-so-close from a sixth National Championship in program history. Messiah instead took home the Runner-Up trophy for the fourth time.
 
Erin Sollenberger provided Messiah's most dramatic moment with an equalizer in the 84th minute, her second tally in as many games as this weekend's Final Four. The score helped Messiah dig out from a 1-0 deficit that was first established in the 72nd minute, and soon the teams went through 20 minutes of overtime. Messiah actually came a foot away from ending it with just 25 seconds left in the 110th minute when Kate Shults flicked a serve toward the far post, but keeper Lizzy Crist snagged it on the dive to force kicks.

In the penalty shootout Messiah started with a 1-0 lead off the foot of Marisa Weaver, but after Washington equalized, Sunny Gelnovatch's offering hit off the crossbar and went straight down and away from the goal. That proved to be the difference in all 10 shots that were taken, and Megan Wolf's final shot secured the Bears' claim to the title.
 
Since the match was truly the final game of the NCAA Tournament, Messiah (22-3-0) is credited with a loss while Washington (19-2-3) adds a win to their record. Regardless of the impact on each team's record, the game was eerily similar to last year's 1-1 (2OT 2-1 PK) draw that Washington took over Messiah last year in the National Semifinal in Kansas City, Mo. Messiah has now been ousted from the NCAA Tournament in penalty kicks in three-straight seasons.
 
"Congrats to WashU," Messiah head coach Scott Frey said. "I thought it was a fantastic game. Both teams played good soccer, and it was the game I thought it was going to be: very competitive, with physical moments, and each team dictating the play at times.
 
"But again, hats off to WashU, they were great tonight and the result was well-deserved."
 
The National Championship for Washington is their first after Runner-Up finishes in both 2009 (Messiah) and 2015 (Williams).
 
The decision for Messiah was certainly crushing, but long before the final penalty kick the Falcons played as the best team on the field for long stretches. The Falcons outshot the Bears 7-3 in the first-half and 16-10 in the game, and on more than one occasion they looked dangerous around the Bears' goal. In the 18th minute Messiah found a great chance when Weaver got around her defender on the left endline and sent a hard serve across the box. Sollenberger was racing in from the weakside, but her outstretched leg was just short of the ball as it went out the backside and was cleared away.
 
In the 23rd minute another serve—this one a long cross from Skylar Ulry on the right sideline—was knocked down inside the goal box, and Olivia Snare nearly kicked it through before the center official whistled in favor of keeper Lizzy Crist's attempt to gather the ball from amid the scrum.
 
Just before the half, in the 41st minute, Messiah's Brooke Firestone also appeared close to breaking the tie when she launched a left-footed strike from 20 yards out that went a yard wide of the near post.
 
Despite holding territory for long stretches, and also meeting the challenge of Washington's physical play in both the midfield and defensive end, Messiah could not get on the board first. Instead, the first goal went to the Bears' Taylor Cohen in the 72nd minute. Even as it wasn't their first great look on frame, it was their most opportunistic as Lexie Sprague stole possession on the right side of midfield and pushed forward before cutting back to the middle to serve the ball from 30 yards out. Cohen quickly took the ball to her feet and fired over the reach of Yunez and under the crossbar for the 1-0 lead. The goal was the sixth of the season for the first-year forward.
 
Regardless of the deficit against the nation's No. 2-ranked defense (0.26 goals against average entering the Final Four) Messiah fought back. They survived a few minutes of unsettled play immediately following the goal, and in the 84th minute the Falcons found a stunning equalizer.
 
The play started on the left side with Weaver chasing down a throw-in near the endline. She managed to get off an off-balanced cross into the box, and Sollenberger was there to quickly touch back to DJ Cole at the top of the box for a hard strike at Crist. A defender knocked it down before it got to the net, but Sollenberger ran on to the loose ball for a shot from the six-yard line that went through for a 1-1 tie.
 
As mentioned, the goal was Sollenberger's second in as many days, and it gave the Falcons a burst of life.
 
"To be able to respond after going down 1-0 was terrific, and I'm really proud of this group," Frey said of his team's response late in the game. "At that point, it's easy to go 'well, this game is close to over, and maybe it's not our time.' But once again this team fought back, and showed what they were really made of."
 
As Frey fought back tears, he added: "When it got hard at any point this season, this group responded. And they did it again today."
 
The Falcons' fight continued into the final seconds and through the overtime periods and, as mentioned, they nearly found the winner when Shults flicked on a serve from Ulry with just seconds left in the final overtime.
 
With the penalty kicks looming, keeper Sara Yunez was focused on putting her team in a good position.

"Save the ball," Yunez said with a chuckle when asked afterward about what was going through her head before the shootout. "We all wanted to work hard today to get a different result than we've had in the past two years, but it doesn't always play out the way you want it to."
 
Each of the penalty kick scores was clean, even as Crist and Yunez guessed correctly on a few shots. But in the end the Falcons came up short, and the tears came just as quickly as the Bears raced onto the field in celebration.

Seniors Weaver, Sollenberger, and defender Kayla Deckert were each named to the All-Tournament team along with sophomore DJ Cole. Frey went out of his way in the postgame to praise the senior class for modeling well the standard necessary for competing at a high level.

"What the seniors have done is incredible, and their work ethic is what they'll be remembered for, and it's what our younger players will need to emulate moving forward.
 
"I think we have players that believe in our program," Frey continued, commenting on the incredible and sustained success of the program. "There's a trust factor between me with our players, and also them with me, and when you put those things together it's something that's pretty special.
 
"I think our younger players get a chance to go, 'wow, this is more than just a soccer team' and Messiah women's soccer really is more than that. It's not just soccer."

For the Falcons, the penalty kick loss dropped them to 5-4 overall in matches decided by a shootout, although this was the first true "loss" since it came in the National Final. Even still, the Falcons made an appearance in the National Championship for the seventh time in the past 10 seasons, and ninth time in program history overall; the Falcons' nine appearances in the final match builds upon the record they already held for a Division III institution.