GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College field hockey team did everything it possibly could to defeat the visiting Tigers of DePauw University in Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference tournament championship game. The only thing the Ladies couldn't do was score and that left the door open for DePauw to steal a 1-0 shootout victory.

When the two teams could not decide the game in regulation, they battled through two seven-on-seven, 15-minute overtime periods. Kenyon had chance after chance during the extra periods, but every opportunity came up dry. In the overtime periods alone, Kenyon out-shot DePauw 14-2.

Not able to convert, the Ladies had to settle for a shootout with the Tigers. In the first round of the best-of-five shootout, the goalkeepers were in control. Kenyon keeper Sarah Speroff stopped four of five attempts, allowing only a backhanded goal to DePauw's Paige Berliner. Sarah Guendert, the Tigers' keeper, matched Speroff's effort and stopped all but one shot from Kenyon's Katelyn Hutchinson, who flicked the ball through Guendert's legs for the Ladies' lone shootout goal.

With one goal apiece in the first round of the shootout, the teams went to the next round and faced sudden elimination. Each team's first shots were missed. Kenyon's second shot went wide and DePauw went on to claim victory when Sofia Carretero faked to her left, brought the ball back to her right and launched the game-winner into the Kenyon cage.

The win improved DePauw's overall record to 15-4 and gave the Tigers the NCAC's automatic berth into next week's NCAA Division III tournament. Kenyon fell to 17-3 with the loss and will have to wait until Sunday night to find out whether or not it will be given an at-large berth in the national tournament.

The end result was clearly not one the Ladies deserved. For the majority of the game, Kenyon dominated possession, racking up advantages in shots (31-12) and penalty corners (8-6).

One of the Ladies' best chances came right before the half. With the clock winding down under 30 seconds sophomore Katelyn Hutchinson and freshman Minke Verweij were loose on a breakaway. From the right side, Hutchinson got the ball to Verweij. She then ripped a shot, only to have it turned aside by Guendert.

Hutchinson had another great opportunity stymied in overtime. Working on another breakaway with sophomore Shannon Hart, Hutchinson took Hart's pass and fired at point-blank range. Her shot went off Guendert's pads and trickled toward the goal line. Before it could cross the line, Carretero got a stick on it and came up with a huge defensive save for the Tigers.

On a positive note for Kenyon, DePauw's shootout goal did not count against Speroff's or the Ladies' team statistics. That means Speroff was credited with the shutout, giving her 13 on the season and breaking the old Kenyon single-season shutout mark of 12 set by Karen Thompson in 2006.

At the end of the game, Speroff, Kelsey Trulik and Maddie Breschi were named to the All-NCAC Tournament team.