Box Score

In a magical strong postseason run, the University of Minnesota Duluth will likely be one of the teams in the 2013 NCAA National Division II Soccer Tournament, which will be announced Monday night.

The Bulldogs (15-4-1) fought relentlessly and almost upset the No. 6 team in the nation Sunday afternoon at The Pitch in Mankato, Minn., ultimately falling to Minnesota State University Mankato in penalty kicks after a 2-2 draw of 110 minutes of play in the final round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference /U.S. Bank Soccer Tournament.

The Mavericks struck first on corner kick in the fifth minute. Sydney Temple headed in the corner attempt from the right side. However, the Bulldogs would respond as junior forward Maureen Stormont continued to torch opposing defenses putting in another pair of goals in the 34 and 40th minutes to put UMD up 2-1 at the half.

MSU – the NSIC regular season champions – would not go away that easy, and they found the equalizer in the 86th minute off another corner kick. Mavs' Breanna Stelle headed in the rebound past sophomore goalkeeper Marissa Rosa to knot the game at 2-2 with minutes remaining in regulation.

In the overtimes sessions, UMD retained its composure and had chances to put the game away including a scrum in the second overtime in front of Mavericks' keeper Molly McGough. The Bulldogs couldn't settle the ball down after multiple attempts and it was eventually cleared out.

The Bulldogs gained valuable experience playing in their first PK session of the year despite conceding 3-2 in the end. Senior Dani Potter and Stormont connected on their attempts while junior midfielder Jennifer Smith, junior defender Megan Helberg and junior midfielder Hannah Keil missed on their tries.

The Mavericks had six corner kicks to the Bulldogs one and MSU-Mankato outshot UMD 23-11 in the contest. Rosa made six saves on the afternoon while her counterpart McGough posted four.

For their tournament efforts, Rosa, Stormont, Potter and junior defender Riley Allen were all named the to the 2013 NSIC/U.S. Bank Soccer All-Tournament Team.

Now, the Bulldogs will wait to find out where they end up in the NCAA Central Region when the field of 48 is announced tomorrow evening at 6:30 p.m. via a webcast selection show on www.NCAA.com. The regional tournament will begin Nov. 15 and 17 at regional campuses.