WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carroll University women's soccer team played to a 1-1 tie with Carthage College after 110 minutes (including 90 minutes of regulation and two, 10-minute overtime periods) in a double-overtime College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Schneider Stadium on Wednesday night.
It was the third draw of the season for Carroll, which is currently 3-1-3 in the conference standings and 11-3-3 overall.
With the gritty, determined effort, the Pioneers remained in sole possession of third place in the highly contested league standings and stayed in the hunt for a berth in the prestigious CCIW Tournament with one regular season game left on the schedule.
Carroll can clinch its second straight CCIW tourney berth with a home-field victory over Millikin (0-6-1) on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.
Conference champion Wheaton (7-0-1) and second-place Illinois Wesleyan (6-1) have clinched the top two spots. Carroll follows in third with North Central fourth (4-3), Augustana fifth (3-3-1) and Elmhurst sixth (3-4). 
Following a scoreless opening half, the Pioneers scored as the result of a Carthage own goal at the 45:48 mark to take a lead.
On the critical play, senior forward/midfielder Sabrina Georgeff (Naperville, Ill.) fired a strong crossing pass toward the middle that inadvertently deflected off of a Carthage defender, made its way past the goalkeeper and flew back into the net.
What seemed to be a momentum-shifting play, was short lived as Carthage answered with a game-tying shot in the 59th minute.
Junior forward Maggie Washelesky tied the game on an unassisted goal at the 59:08 mark for the Lady Reds, 2-4-1 in conference and 9-7-1 overall.
Sophomore 5-foot-6 goalkeeper Christina O' Block (Libertyville, Ill.) registered 10 saves (one short of equaling her season high)  for the Pioneers, who remained tenacious throughout the contest despite being outshot 20-4 - including an 11-2 shot-on-goal margin.
O' Block was a stabilizing force throughout the night, making eight saves in regulation, highlighted by five in the first half.
"It was a really great team effort the entire way and a battle until the very end," said O' Block, one of nine sophomores on the battle-tested roster this season. "Being such a close, hard-fought game, we took a lot away from it and just continued to push hard to make strong runs on every possession.
"At this point of the season, we're just taking it one day at a time and attempting to execute our best. If we can manage to take some deep breaths and focus, we should be able to work through the pressure and fight hard each step of the way. It's exciting being part of the conference race so we're looking forward to the challenge ahead of us." 
Junior forward Rachel Van Sluys (Sheboygan, Wis.), the reigning CCIW Player of the Year, generated two shots for Carroll, which attempted four corner kicks in the marathon. Georgeff and junior forward/midfielder Delaney Pruitt (Ringwood, Ill.) each had one shot.
"It was a gritty, tough, physical battle that perfectly exemplified what CCIW play is all about," Carroll head coach Susie Foster said. "Being in the thick of the conference race with so much riding on every single game, every night is going to be a fight until the end. Tonight's game against a very good Carthage team really worked to showcase our strengths but also shed some light on the areas where we need to improve. 
"We just want to use it as a valuable experience, continue to learn how to adapt to the various situations and  take full advantage of every opportunity to win games. Now it's just a matter of chipping away, preparing for the next challenge and rising to the occasion to earn a berth in the CCIW Tournament. It takes an enormous amount of both mental and physical toughness to battle through the season so we're very proud to be in the position we're in and hope to make the most of the opportunity to play at home with everything on the line."