BEAUMONT, Texas – Dreams continued to come true for both the McNeese women's soccer team and junior Michelle Petrarca as her first career goal helped score an exciting 1-0 overtime victory over rival Lamar Friday night in Beaumont as well as keep the Cowgirls' hopes for a Southland Conference Tournament run alive.

With less than three minutes remaining in the overtime period, the ball was kicked into a scramble of McNeese and Lamar players just in front of the Lady Cardinals goalkeeper. Senior Haley Lyons fought and finally found possession of the ball and was quick to pass it to Petrarca who tipped in a shot to send the Cowgirls to their third conference victory in five games.

"Tonight was a great victory for our team," said head coach Scooter Savoie. "Our ladies played extremely well tonight as they battled back and forth. I enjoyed watching my team give everything they had and did a great job of answering what Lamar threw at them."

With the victory, McNeese improved to 6-8-1 overall on the season and 4-4 in SLC play. The Cowgirls now sit in sole possession of fourth place in the league standings and need just one more victory to secure its spot in the postseason tournament.

The win also snapped a 15-game road winless streak for McNeese. Until Friday night, the Cowgirls' last victory on the road came against Northwestern State in late 2012.

"To finally be able to get a win on the road is huge for us as well as getting the overtime monkey off of our back," said Savoie. "I think this victory helps slide the table more towards us in terms of finishing the season out strong and position ourselves for a shot at postseason play.

Lamar dropped to 4-10-1 on the year and 2-5-1 in conference action.

The two teams were even through the first half, with McNeese dominating the offensive game, 11 shots to 6. The game remained scoreless through the second stanza, but the Lady Cardinals did manage to hold even with the Cowgirls as both fired off 11 shots apiece.

Fans in attendance witnessed one of the most outstanding performances of junior Lauren Sestak's career as she earned her third career clean sheet and second shutout of the season. Sestak saved all six shots on goal that she faced from the Lady Cardinals.

McNeese recorded its fifth shutout of the season behind the backline of seniors Amanda Denton and Haley Lyons as well as juniors Sarah Bricker and Petrarca and freshman Nickie Schaaf.

Freshman Gabi D'Alesandro anchored the offensive attack with seven shots on the night while senior Krista Steinbeiser led the team with three on goal. In total, nine different Cowgirls recorded shots on the night.

McNeese will take Sunday off before making the trip west to face off against Incarnate Word on Friday, Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m.and Abilene Christian on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1:30 p.m. The Cowgirls wrap up regular season play at home against Central Arkansas on Sunday, November 2.