WICHITA, Kan. - Despite an impressive first-half goal from
Reece Young and an 11-save outing by
Makena Tapia, no. 7 seed Ottawa was unable to advance to the KCAC Women's Soccer Tournament semifinals after a 1-1 draw against no. 2 seed Friends, falling 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out on Wednesday.
As in the regular-season match between the teams, Ottawa found success in absorbing pressure from the Falcons and looking for counterattack opportunities.
After defending a 15th minute corner kick well and drawing Friends into an offside call, Tapia was quick to play the free kick out. A clearance attempt was briefly intercepted by the Falcons but headed forward to
Cennet Donahue, who raced into midfield and cut back to the center circle.
Her through pass was cut out by Payton Kauffman but
Melissa Grohmann was able to intercept Kauffman's outlet attempt as well. Grohmann cut back to
Emma Stillings, who fed
Laura Quijada central, with the Barcelona native linking with
Charlotte Gatehouse in a quick give-and-go to spring Gatehouse to the end line.
After outpacing her defender, Gatehouse sent a low cross into the six-yard box for Young, who chipped Kaitlyn Martinez to open the scoring for the Braves.
The Braves held strong to take a 1-0 lead into halftime and continued to weather the pressure from Friends well past the hour mark. With playoff advancement on the line, the match became considerably more heated, with a pair of cautions being shown to Friends - Taylor Dill in the 63rd minute and the head coach for the Falcons in the 69th - matching the cautions shown to
Kyndel Adams (50th) and
Ella Stillings (15th).
But the noise from the Friends bench seemed to pay off later in the 69th minute, as Anahi Ibarra-Arevalo was awarded a penalty kick goal after initiating contact with Stillings in the 18-yard box as Stillings cut out the through pass.
Kieley Aranda sent Tapia the wrong way to equalize for Friends and gave the match a whole new complexion.
Friends tried to ride the wave of momentum over the final 20 minutes, but Tapia was solid in preserving the draw through 90 minutes for Ottawa, picking up four big saves, the biggest pair coming in the 73rd as she stopped a header from Peyton Martin-Peterson then recovered to save the rebound from Aurora Delgado.
Each team had a single chance in each of the extra frames, but Tapia and Martinez did the hard work to keep their respective teams' hope alive.
Aranda opened the penalty shootout for Friends, but overconfidence nearly got the better of her as she sent it exactly where she had placed her shot earlier in the match. Tapia read this one correctly and got a fingertip to it, but not enough to keep it out of the net.
Donahue equalized for the Braves, sidefooting a shot to her right as Martinez dove helplessly opposite.
Tapia put the Braves up in the second round, reading Kauffman's shot easily and parrying her top-shelf attempt safely away as
Emma Stillings rocketed her shot into the top left corner of the net.
Martin-Peterson and
Brie Fitzpatrick both found net in the third round of kicks, just outside the reach of the respective keepers, before Francesca Jones managed to sneak one just under the reach of a diving Tapia.
Ella Stillings got under her effort slightly, ringing her shot off the crossbar to leave the score tied 3-3 heading into the final round of kicks. Elisa Murrietta sent Tapia the wrong way to give Friends a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, Gatehouse sent her effort high off the crossbar as well, triggering the celebrations from the home team.
Ottawa finishes the 2026 season with a record of 8-9-1.
Â
