WINTER PARK, Fla. – The 2019 Embry-Riddle women's soccer team made program history on Sunday as the Eagles (10-5-3) won their first Sunshine State Conference Tournament title. The fourth-seeded Eagles outlasted No. 2 seed Rollins (12-4-1) in a penalty kick shootout to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Soccer Championships.

The Tars struck first in Sunday's game as Kathryn O'Brien capitalized on an ERAU defensive miscue to net the game's first goal in the eighth minute. The Eagles had chances to even the score, including a Marie Myhrvold Seim shot that missed to the left and a Julia Olsson strike that was saved by Rollins goalkeeper Elena Beasley, but at the half the score remained 1-0 in favor of the home team.

The Eagles came out pressuring the Rollins defense in the second half and at the 59:29 mark, their efforts resulted in a goal. After the Tars sent the ball out over the end line, Isabelle Navren's corner kick found Rita Okoro on the near post and the senior headed home her seventh goal of the year to pull the Eagles level at 1-1.

Throughout the remainder of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods, neither team was able to add to its tally on the scoreboard, sending the game to the penalty kicks to determine the champion.

After the first three penalty attempts missed the mark, Okoro stepped up to the spot and buried her attempt to put the Eagles up 1-0. After Rollins made it 1-1, each of the next two kickers converted on their attempts to make it 3-3. The penalty kick score did not change as each of the next five kickers missed, including a Rollins attempt that was stopped by Dana Ruchti, bringing the Eagles' eighth penalty kick taker, Fanny Kristiansson to the spot. Kristiansson, who cheered her team on from the bench through the entirety of regulation and overtime, rose to the occasion and buried her penalty kick to send the Eagles to regionals.

"First, I want to congratulate the Rollins team as they've been strong all season and today was no different," ERAU Head Coach Samanth Bohon said. "Alicia Schuck and I both said after the game that the atmosphere with all of the fans made it such a special event that both teams deserved. I want to thank John Phillips and the entire athletic department as we had staff volunteering to drive students to the game to support us. I think we ended up with four vans full of fans plus ones that drove on their own. It was contagious energy for our team and really propelled us to play the best soccer of the day in the second half and overtime. We felt good coming into the game and the players were prepared with how we wanted to execute today. Their goal was just a mental mistake on our part and I was proud that we shook it off and kept playing. Rita has been due a big goal, so I was thrilled to see her bring us back to even with the header. I thought our defensive group was really strong all game and limited opportunities to a dangerous attacking front. While the shootout was a bit ugly, we'll take it and practice them again this week. This entire season, I've prayed fervently that this group earn something that distinguishes itself as we knew early this was a special group. I'm beyond thrilled that we were able to do that today. We're healthy, we're motivated, and look to build on this momentum for the NCAAs." 

The Eagles will find out who their first opponent in regional play will be when the national championship bracket is revealed at 6 p.m. on Monday.