CORAOPOLIS, PA — RMU women’s soccer keeps breaking records and leaving their goals late as they defeated IU Indy, 1-0, Sunday afternoon in the first round of the Horizon League Playoffs.

Defender Jillian Marvin scored the winner in overtime.

Before the chaos in the latter half of the match, both teams saw many close chances, and the score could’ve ended up high and favoring either team.

“It was a gritty defensive effort from both teams,” Colonial head coach Michelle Rick said. “It was back and forth, end to end, the entirety of the game, and each team had their chances, but at the end of the day we found that extra edge and I couldn’t be more prouder of the girls.”

In the first half, the Colonials looked the more dangerous of the two teams. The number four seed looked like the better team early on, with chances from Paloma Swankler and Madison Hurst both missing the net. Even though RMU’s fast start woke up the crowd, IU Indy would make the presence known early, too.

The Jaguars came close and could’ve had the lead as early as RMU after a nice counter caught the Colonial’s off-guard and a cross would find its way to the back post. Thankfully, the touch from Caroline Kelly would be poor and the ball would be quickly cleared.

“The backline as a whole put in a defensive shift the entire 90 minutes.” Rick said. “We spoke before the game about knowing your role, doing your job, and executing on that, and every single one of them absolutely did that.”

While the Colonials stood strong through most of the first half, the chances kept finding their way to their forwards. RMU’s fast transitions and ability to switch the field proved to be difficult for the Jaguars to handle, with additional attackers like Taylor Day, Ava Trethewey, and Haleigh Finale also getting opportunities.

Paloma Swankler would generate the most dangerous shot of the first half when she would pick up a loose ball around midfield and carry it to the top of the eighteen yard box, firing a high shot that forced a save out of Jaguar keeper, Ashton Kudlo.

Rick praised the efforts of her forwards, citing their ability to play make being what makes them special.

“I thought they put in an effort that is worth commending in a very transitional game.” Rick said, adding “It was hard to get them on the ball in some moments because the way IU Indy tends to play is a little more end to end, and we tend to build through the thirds a little more, so I would like to find them a little bit more than we did today, but they absolutely put in a shift.”

Swankler, Finale, and Hurst all were awarded for their contributions during the regular season. Hurst made the All-League Freshmen Team while Swankler and Finale earned sports on the All-League Second Team.

While the first half was all RMU, the second half was vastly different. As time went on the Colonials grew tired and complacent. Meanwhile IU Indy grew into the game, and conjured up a lot off great chances. The Colonials outshot the Jags, 9-5 in the first half. The second half reflects the steep turnaround, with IU Indy taking 14 shots to RMU’s 2.

Jillian Marvin, the eventual game winning goal scorer, found herself in front of a lot of those shots, with IU Indy having 47% possession in the Colonial defensive end in the second half.

“We celebrate the small wins,” the junior captain said. “Every blocked shot, every tackle we make gives us momentum and we just carry that forward and get hyped up after every play.”

A late surge from the Jaguars wasn’t enough to put them over the line though. Multiple shots from the team were saved comfortably by graduate keeper, Brenna Murray. Murray collected 8 saves total in the match, seven of which came in the second period of play.

While the game looked like it was heading to overtime, IU Indy made one last push. A cross from out wide ended up looping over Murray but hit off the crossbar before Caroline Kelly would put a header wide of the net before the buzzer rang for the end of regulation.

While the Jaguars looked like they had all the momentum heading into extra time, it wouldn’t take long for RMU to seize the opportunity that comes with the golden goal rule.

Just two minutes into the extra period of play, RMU would win a corner. The cross was swung in and hit out by IU Indy defender but Haleigh Finale would keep the ball in the box, lofting a high kick back in which was not cleared by the keeper correctly. The ball would find the head of Jillian Marvin and the rest is history.

“All game I was getting in on these corner kicks, they weren’t getting to where I was running to,” Marvin said. “But that one I was just reading Haleigh’s ball back into the mix and as soon as I saw the keeper get a tip I said “I’m getting a head on this” and it went in the back of the net.”

For the first time ever the Colonials would be playing in the Horizon League Semifinals in consecutive seasons. A monumental feat for Rick and the rest of her team.

“This team has been through a lot of challenges.” Rick said. “Through coaching transitions, playing our toughest non-conference schedule ever, we’ve just made history making it back to back years in hosting the quarters and now heading into the semi-finals so that’s something that’s worth celebrating.”

As for what lies ahead in Milwaukee, the number 1 seed and a team RMU has never beaten, Rick says she hopes this result is something to build upon, now and in the future.

“I hope they can ride that momentum and have confidence in themselves. This is a program on that’s on the rise, and success, now that we’ve gotten a taste of it, we wanna be repeating and contending every year. And looking at the pressure is a privilege.”

RMU is scheduled to travel to and face Milwaukee in the Horizon League semi-finals on Thursday, Nov. 7. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the game being able to be streamed on ESPN+.