St. Thomas and St. Benedict have been dead even all season, but the Tommies will advance in the NCAA Division III women�s soccer tournament after outlasting their conference rival 5-4 in penalty kicks after the two teams played to a scoreless draw Saturday in Stevens Point, Wis.

The two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes tied their regular season match, shared the conference title, tied again in Saturday�s match and were still tied after five rounds of penalty kicks before St. Thomas� Jessica Casey made her penalty kick attempt and St. Benedict�s Brittany Klang had her shot sail over the crossbar.

St. Thomas (13-3-2) advances to face UW-Stevens Point in the regional championship match Sunday at 1 p.m. The Tommies and Pointers will finally meet after being scheduled to play in the regular season on Oct. 22 before the match was postponed due to four inches of snow.

Even the statistics reflected how even the two teams were on the field as the Tommies held a 12-10 edge in shots and 4-3 advantage in corner kicks as both teams had 11 fouls and three saves. The teams also tied 1-1 on Oct. 15, had identical 9-0-2 league records and both allowed four goals in conference play, but St. Thomas earned the automatic berth because of having more goals scored in league play.

St. Benedict (12-3-4) controlled most of the first half, holding the Tommies without a shot attempt for nearly 30 minutes and having a 6-3 edge on shots in the first half. However, St. Thomas limited St. Benedict to just one shot in the second half as the teams went to overtime.

Some of the match�s best scoring opportunities came in extra time as St. Thomas had five shots and St. Benedict had three shots in the extra 20 minutes. Tommies� goalie Jessica Christopherson made three saves and also saved a penalty kick in the shootout, while Tae Ruppe had three saves for the Blazers.

Score by Halves           1- 2- OT- OT- PK- F
St. Thomas                   0-0-0-0-5-0
St. Benedict                  0-0-0-0-4-0

Scoring
none

Shootout
UST � Elizabeth Sullivan, made; Jacqie Kupfer, made; Valerie Johnson, missed; Sarah Bird, made; Anne Borer, made; Jessica Casey, made
CSB � Kristin Horn, made; Meggie de St. Aubin, saved; Taylor Hilker, made; Jessica DeLoy, made; Meghann Green, made; Brittany Klang, missed

Shots on Goal � UST 12, CSB 10
Fouls � UST 11, CSB 11
Goalie Saves � UST 3 (Jessica Christopherson), CSB 3 (Tae Ruppe)
Corner Kicks � UST 4, CSB 3