SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – In the Mountain East Conference Tournament Quarterfinals, Notre Dame College and West Virginia Wesleyan College were scoreless through 102 minutes of action. Following a corner kick, senior Ellie Gess got enough of the ball and scored through a group of players to secure the win.

Neither team's defense allowed many opportunities on the offensive end in the first half, as the teams combined for five shots. The Bobcats took two shots on goal, one in the 22nd minute and one in the 35th minute.

Within a span of seven minutes in the second half, Gess took two shots on goal, but they were both saved by WVWC goalkeeper Ally Moore.

Notre Dame took six shots in the second half, with W.Va. Wesleyan attempting four. And for the third time this season, the Falcons entered overtime.

Senior Katja Josipovic had a few solid opportunities for the Falcons, late in the second half and in the first overtime period. In the 76th minute, she sent a shot just over the crossbar. In the 95th minute, she set up for a free kick and launched a shot that was nearly perfectly placed over the keeper, but hit the crossbar and bounced back.

Just three minutes into the second overtime period, a corner by Josipovic was sent into the box. Several players jumped to gain possession, but once it fell to the turf, Gess came away with the ball and scored in the lower right corner.

"I didn't see a whole lot," said head coach Mike Shiels, talking about the golden goal. "There was a scrum and one of our seniors, Ellie, was able to get herself on the end of things and get it in for us."

Gess led the team with four shots and three of them were on goal. Josipovic took three shots, while freshman Alyssa Wright and Kalie Blasing took two. Goalkeeper Jordan Pasalaqua saved four shots.

"One of the things we talked about was minimizing mistakes," Shiels mentioned. "We feel like in any of the games that we didn't get the result that we were happy with, we had a couple mistakes that crept into our game. The girls have been improving on that as the year has gone on. Just tightening things up. The back didn't give up too many opportunities [today] and finally, in double-overtime, we managed to sneak one in."

NDC has now won a game in the MEC Tournament in three of the last four seasons.

Notre Dame will travel to play Frostburg State University in the MEC Tournament Semifinals, on April 22. The start time has not been announced.