MILLIGAN, Tenn. – On Saturday afternoon, the No. 3-seeded Milligan University women's soccer team began their quest through the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament with a home bout against the No. 6-seeded University of Pikeville (Ky.) Bears. In a battle that saw the Buffaloes trail 2-1 with just over five minutes left, a late goal to knot things up and a golden goal in the first overtime period gave the Milligan squad a 3-2 win to vault them forward to the AAC Semifinal Round.
 
An early chance by the Buffs in the first 30 seconds saw Natalie Roper blast a shot off the top of the crossbar and over to get things going quickly. Pikeville had their own chance just a minute later where they took a shot that grazed the crossbar, as well. Then, in the fourth minute, Pikeville tallied the opening salvo to take a 1-0 lead. Not too long after, Milligan matched it with a goal of their own from Lauren Hawkley, who smashed a Roper pass past the keeper to make the game level again in the 17^th minute. The opening half was evenly played, as the UPIKE squad held a minimal 7-6 shot edge over the Buffaloes.
 
The second half went about 20 minutes before the Bears notched the first goal of the period in the 66^th minute. A direct header in the box off a cross hit the far post and redirected to the twine to give Pikeville the lead over MU, 2-1. Things were looking grim, as the clock wound down all the way to under five minutes left. Then, a ball that ended up in the box that bounced around off several people would end up landing on the boot of Hawkley right in front of the net. She promptly hammered the ball into the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2 in the 86^th minute of the contest. That is where the score remained at full time. Milligan outshot UPIKE 14-5 in the second half, which was much due to the fact that they trailed and were pressing for the tying tally.

For the first time this season, Milligan played an overtime match, as all regular-season tilts end in ties. The first overtime period of two possible frames was completely dominated by the Buffs, as they held a 4-0 edge in corner kicks taken, as well as a 2-0 shot lead. The final of those four corners resulted in a perfect header finish by Skyler Miller, who grazed the bottom of the crossbar and caromed to the back of the net to give Milligan a massive 3-2 win in OT. The victory pushes them forward to the AAC Semifinal Round at No. 2-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan University.

Milligan had 16 shots on goal in the contest, with Roper supplying four of those, Hawkley driving three of them, and both Kara McDaniel and Halle Steele hitting two apiece. Bianca Vacirca, Lucy Knowles, S. Miller, Katelyn Penner and Nikki Shirley each took one shot on frame. Overall, Milligan held a 16-10 advantage in that category in the bout.
 
For Emily Robinson, it was a strong performance, as she stopped eight of the 10 shots that she faced on net in the triumph. She saw her season record move to 10-3-3 with the AAC Semis on the horizon.
 
The road battle against a high-class opponent in Tennessee Wesleyan awaits, as the battle on Tuesday, Nov. 4 will be played at a time yet to be decided in Athens, Tenn.