Springfield, Ore. – The Carroll College women defeated the University of Great Falls 3-2 to advance to the semifinals of the Cascade Conference Tournament Wednesday at the Willamalane Soccer Complex in Springfield, Ore.
 
In the first meeting of the season, the Saints and Argos battled to a scoreless draw, the chances of that happening again were thrown out of the window pretty early on when, in the seventh minute, Cassidy Hammons buried a free kick from 35-yards out to give Carroll a 1-0 lead.
 
The 1-0 lead would hold for nealy 30 minutes before a flurry of goal closed out the half. The first came from Madison Apsey in the 37th minute, just moments after checking in she received a cross from Ylena Gazdik and sent it past the UGF goalkeeper for the 2-0 Carroll lead.
 
UGF answered almost immediately, Jessica Watts hit a shot off of a cross in the 39th minute to cut the Saints lead to 2-1.
 
Carroll answered again, this time from Michaela Kueffler in the 40th minute. I clearing shot from UGF went right to Kueffler who sent the ball in from 15-yards out to give Carroll the 3-1 lead going into halftime.
 
In the second half, UGF would tally five shots but only two were on goal and one gave the Argos hope. Ashley Todd scored in the 87th minute to cut the lead to 3-2 but it would be all that UGF would muster and the Saints would hold on for the win.
 
Carroll outshot UGF 8-7 but were dominant on corner kicks 8-1 and were aggressive enough to earn three offsides penalties.
 
The Saints continue on with tournament play tomorrow, facing Southern Oregon at 7 p.m. tomorrow. The Raiders pulled off a minor upset, defeating Rocky Mountain on penalty kicks after battling to a scoreless draw.
 
Carroll tallied a 3-0 win over SOU in Ashland in the lone meeting this season. The Saints hold the top seed in the tournament and have already clinched a spot in the NAIA tournament with their regular season championship.