Box Score
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Sunday afternoon at Mueller Field marked Championship Sunday as the top-seeded Notre Dame Falcons hosted the second-seeded Charleston Golden Eagles in the Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship game. After 110 scoreless minutes of action, the Falcons prevailed with a 4-2 advantage in penalty kicks to win the MEC Championship.

After both teams split their regular season series, with a 1-0 loss to Charleston being NDC's lone loss of the season, the Falcons and Golden Eagles once again battled down to the wire.

The first half proved to be scoreless with neither team establishing much of an offensive presence throughout the first 45 minutes of action.

The second half, however, didn't prove to be much different. As the scoreboard remained blank at 0-0, the shot totals also remained equal as both teams finished regulation with tied at 6-6 in shot attempts.

Ninety scoreless minutes in regulation led to overtime, where the Falcons outshot Charleston 2-1 in the first OT period but the scoreless stalemate continued. A scoreless first overtime period was followed by another scoreless overtime period, and after 110 minutes of action, both teams were headed to penalty kicks tied at 0-0.

In the best-of-five penalty kicks, Charleston missed their opening kick. Katarina Doncevic nailed the Falcons' first kick, giving NDC a 1-0 lead in PKs.

Charleston's Lyndsey Thompson converted UC's second attempt, tying PKs at 1-1, but NDC's Alexis Manoa followed by making her penalty kick to give NDC a 2-1 lead through two rounds.

After another miss from Charleston, Norah Barnes put the pressure on the Golden Eagles by scoring the third penalty kick goal for NDC, extending the PK lead to 3-1.

In need of a goal in the fourth frame, Charleston's Brooke Garey came through with a penalty kick to cut the deficit to 3-2.

With the Falcons holding a 3-2 lead in PKs, Megan O'Connor stepped up for the next NDC penalty kick knowing a converted kick would clinch the 2016 Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship. O'Connor proved clutch, knocking in the game-winning goal for the Falcons as NDC escaped with a 4-2 win over Charleston in penalty kicks.

With the win, the Falcons officially clinch the 2016 MEC Tournament Championship and improve to 14-1-4 overall.

NDC will now prepare for the upcoming 2016 NCAA Tournament, and will wait for Monday night's Tournament Selection Show to see where they will be seeded and playing next.

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