NORFOLK, Va. – Overtime was not enough to decide who would move on to the Conference USA championship game between No. 4 Louisiana Tech and No. 1 North Texas.
 
The match went to a penalty shootout knotted up at 1-1 and the Lady Techsters had the upper-hand through three rounds, but the Mean Green stormed back to win 3-2 on penalty kicks on Friday night at the ODU Soccer Complex.
 
LA Tech (13-5-3) had a ton of overtime experience, having played seven OT matches this season including one this past Wednesday that advanced them into the semifinals. 
 
Oddly enough though, the Lady Techsters had neither taken a penalty kick or allowed a penalty kick all year.  After being up 2-1 through round three, the Mean Green (14-2-3) scored on their final two shots and came up with two saves. 
 
"To come so close is indeed heartbreaking," head coach Kevin Sherry said.  "We gave everything, showing amazing grit and determination.  We can't lose sight of the fact that we had a great season and should feel proud of what we achieved.
 
"It hurts because we had such a great opportunity to win it in the penalty shootout.  Eventually, the sadness will subside and we will reflect on a wonderful season."
 
The first period played almost exactly like the quarterfinal match for LA Tech.  With strong defense and scoring chances here and there, the match appeared to be headed towards a nil-nil score at halftime. 
 
However, in the 39th minute the Mean Green's Olivia Klein was able to put her one-touch shot into the back of the net that went over a charging Courtney Tompkins from the keeper position to give the top seed the 1-0 lead going into the locker room. 
 
LA Tech showed some more resiliency though.  On their first corner kick of the night, Alexandra LeBlanc drilled her left-footed shot into the six where it was deflected multiple times until Alexandra Augustyn chipped it in for the equalizing goal in the 55th minute. 
 
It was close call after close call for both teams the rest of the second period, but ultimately the match would go into overtime to decide a winner. 
 
The Lady Techsters nearly had the golden goal in the 97th minute when Connor Barker chased down a long ball and then drilled it into the net, but the head referee whistled a foul on the trailing Mylene Roy-Ouellet before the shot was attempted.
 
It appeared as though LA Tech scored again just seconds before the end of the first OT, but they were whistled for offsides which sent the match into a second OT. 
 
The Lady Techster defense came up big a couple of times then to force PKs, especially LeBlanc who recorded a save of her own when she raced to clear out a ball going towards an empty net.  Then later, they fended off a dangerous free kick from the right flank. 
 
 In the first two rounds, Jaelyn Peeples and Sophia Smith drilled no-doubters and Tompkins saved one shot to give LA Tech a 2-1 advantage.  Round three was a wash as both players missed.  North Texas connected on its last two shots, but LA Tech had its last two shots saved. 
 
North Texas, a team that has been ranked in the top 25 this season, finished with an 18-7 shot advantage.  Seven different players took shots for LA Tech with four of those coming on goal.  In net, Tompkins registered five saves in the draw.
 
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