Albany, NY - The Utica College women's soccer team's magical run in the Empire 8 Tournament came to an end on Saturday night as the team fell to Russell Sage 2-1 in overtime in the E8 championship game. 

Both teams were silent on offense until UC drew first blood late in the first half. Kaela Mochak (Westfield, MA/Westfield) found the back of the net at 41:12 from about 20 yards out to take a 1-0 lead. Sage outshot UC 12-3 in the first half however, Emily Hill (Watertown, CT/Watertown) was a brick wall for the Pioneers as she recorded five saves in the first half. 

The score remained the same until Sage hit the equalizer off the foot of Hallie Klosterman at 64:13. After both teams failed to capitalize on opportunities towards the end of regulation the game went into overtime. This marked UC's fourth straight overtime game dating back to April 8 against St. John Fisher. 

Klosterman turned out to be the hero of the night for the Gators as she scored the game winning goal on a penalty kick at 96:37 to give Sage its first ever Empire 8 crown. 

Utica was outshot in the game 22-11 while Sage also held the advantage in shots on goal 11-4.  

The fifth-seeded Pioneers made a historic run to reach the championship game, taking down fourth-seeded Houghton and top-seeded Nazareth on penalty kicks over the span of three days. This was UC's third consecutive trip to the Empire 8 Championship having lost to Stevens 3-0 in 2018 before taking down Hartwick 1-0 in 2019.