It would be hard for the John Carroll women's soccer to argue which is more cruel, having one's fate decided by penalty kicks or the shape of the post.

Both proved equally harsh Monday afternoon, as visiting and fifth-seeded Wilmington would advance in the 2010 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament by virtue of a 5-4 advantage in penalty kicks in a quarterfinal round match played at Don Shula Stadium.

Box Score

With a history of competing in tense and dramatic postseason play that has never failed to reach overtime periods, it came as no surprise that today's match up would end in a shoot out. Since Wilmington joined the OAC in 2000, the three previous playoff meetings of these two teams needed a combined seven extra periods to decide -- and that covered just three matches.

The two teams battled evenly in the first half of regulation, with John Carroll tallying six shots to Wilmington's five. In the second half of regulation, however, the field began to tilt the Quakers' way. Several defensive plays were made on both ends of the field, but Wilmington was more aggressive with ten shots in the half, compared to John Carroll's three. Despite some chances, neither team dented the scoreboard and the battle remained deadlocked at 0-0 after 90 minutes.

JCU got its second wind and outshot Wilmington, 6-4, but both keepers -- Wilmington's maria Marsona and John Carroll's Molly Gradowski -- were up to the task as the 20 extra minutes expired, officially ending the match in a tie and setting up a shootout that would determine the advancing team.

The teams traded blows through the first four kicks, all of which were true. But the fifth kick by John Carroll's Rachel Grdina struck a glancing blow off the right post, but rather than richochet into the net, the ball bounced almost straight back to its starting point.

Rachel Gutowski popped her shot into the upper left corner for the winning strike.

“I'm really proud of our effort,' said John Carroll head coach tracy Blasius afterwards. "We played a great game. Wilmington is a tough team and we played strong defensively. It's heartbreaking to lose like this. Our goalkeeper Molly played really well and I'm proud of our seniors. I hate to see their careers end like this because they all had career seasons and stepped up this year.” 

The Blue Streaks season ends at 9-7-4, and on a scoreless streak of 310 minutes. Wilmington moves on with a 7-7-5 record, and will face top seed and OAC regular season champion Otterbein on Wednesday in Westerville, Ohio.