With two minutes left in double overtime, freshman Jolie Carl was in the goalie box with just the ball, the goalie and the net in front of her. With the game on the line, Carl did not have time to think as she tested No. 5 Wheaton College’s keeper, Lauren Ketchum, with a strong, low shot toward the right corner of the net. Ketchum, who had stopped shot after shot in the second half and overtime, managed to tip the ball. But she could not stop it from getting past her and into the back of the net to give the No. 9 Washington University women’s soccer team the victory, 2-1, on Wednesday night.

“I just knew we had to get a goal, and I just kept my calm and did what I know what to do and put it away,” Carl said.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Junior Kristen Reikersdorfer and sophomore Erin Flynn battle with a Wheaton College defender for control of the ball Wednesday. The No. 9 Bears beat No.5 Wheaton 2-1 in a double overtime with a goal in the 109th minute, improving their record to 6-1-1.

Carl’s goal came after a firework-filled first half gave way to a tension-filled second half. The Bears found their way on the scoreboard early. After de-possessing Wheaton in the middle of the field, sophomore Jess Shapiro got the ball to senior Taylor Cohen, who found junior Ellie DeConinck on the wing. With space to work and a clear view, DeConinck blasted a shot from out wide over Ketchum and into the far corner of the net to put the Bears up, 1-0, in the tenth minute. Wash. U. stayed on the attack, generating two additional chances in the minutes after the first, but Wheaton’s defense was able to stop the bleeding.

As time ticked down on the first half, the Thunder earned a corner kick. The initial attempt was stopped by Wash. U. but, after a failed clearance, Wheaton had the ball again in the goalie box. This time, the Bear defense managed to stop the first shot, but Wheaton’s Isabelle Oliver was able to tap the rebound shot past junior goalkeeper Emma Greenfield and into the back of the net. The half ended deadlocked at 1-1.

In addition to battling each other, the Thunder and the Bears spent the afternoon battling the late summer heat. The weather demanded an additional water break in the first half. Even as the sun set in the second, the heat remained a powerful force affecting the physical and mental sharpness of the players.

“Today was definitely extreme conditions, so that had a different element that took a lot of mental resolve,” DeConinck said.

Sophomore Ariana Miles almost started the second half off with a bang, getting deep into the Wheaton defense and sending a header just high over the crossbar. That was emblematic of the rest of the second period and much of overtime. Wash. U. kept earning chances, but through a combination of near misses and excellent goalkeeping by Ketchum, they never materialized into goals. Freshman Sydney Essler sent a cross into the box that boggled around dangerously but was ultimately cleared by the Thunder defense. DeConinck almost caught lightning in a bottle for the second time in an afternoon, sending a shot from the corner of the box that went over Ketchum’s outstretched hands, but bounced off the inside post. Even after leg cramps forced Cohen to exit the game in the 78th minute, the Red and Green continued their onslaught. The Bears outshot Wheaton 17-4 in regulation, but extra time was still necessary to decide the match.

Ketchum’s skill and luck nearly forced a tie, as she helped keep the score level despite eight shots by the Bears in overtime. In the 95th minute, when Essler threatened to end the game off a rebound from a shot by Miles, Ketchum recovered to put just enough pressure on the freshman to force the shot to veer to the right. In the 104th minute, sophomore Erin Flynn found herself in the same position that Carl did minutes later: one-on-one with Ketchum, ten feet from goal. The keeper snatched Flynn’s shot from the air, leaving the game looking like an inevitable tie.

Ketchum made 11 saves on Wednesday afternoon, two more than she did in Wheaton’s sectional final loss to Wash. U. last November. “This game goes back to last year, when we lost to them in the Elite Eight,” she said. “I just had a lot of passion going in and I just knew that it was going to be a tough game and that there was no room to slack.”

The tension was thick as time wound down in double overtime. Junior Ellie Moreland sent a long cross into the box, which Carl corralled to set up a close-range shot. Carl converted it to end the game in the 108th minute.

The goal was Carl’s second score of the season and the second game-winning goal of her young career. “Oh, it’s amazing, so fun,” Carl said. “Just to be part of it, such a competitive [atmosphere], and just to have the final, last thing feels amazing. I know there’s a rivalry, so it was so fun to be a part of competing today.”

With the win, the Bears record rose to 6-1-1 while Wheaton suffered their first defeat, falling to 6-1. The Bears defense clamped down on the Thunder in the second half, not allowing a shot after the 48th minute. Head coach Jim Conlon credited team synergy for the strong defensive effort.

“I think the team just work[ed] hard together,” Conlon said. “We’re trying to get all 11 to play on the same page. When we can play a team defense, we can play pretty well.”

That strong defensive effort was part of what created a wide shot disparity between Wheaton and Wash. U.

“It starts with our back line,” DeConinck said. “They did a great job all night giving us some great opportunities, playing into the midfields and our midfields did a great job getting it to the forwards and behind, so I’m really proud of how our team played.”

The Bears will take the field again Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Wydown Showdown against Fontbonne University.