NIC ROUNDUP: Cardinals keep going in NWAC tournament

• WOMEN'S SOCCER

VANCOUVER, Wash. — At halftime of Wednesday’s opening round match at the Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, North Idaho College coach Kellsi Parson knew her team could be better.

She knew they had more left in the tank.

Then, the Cardinals responded.

Freshman Cora Anderson scored on a free kick in the 87th minute, then sophomore Teresa Ledezma scored six minutes later, sending the Cardinals to a 2-1 double overtime win over the Clark Penguins at the Harmony Sports Complex.

“We played in a downpour and it was another rainy game for us,” said Parson, who advanced to the Elite Eight for the third straight year. “They outshot us (7-2) in the first half, and we just didn’t look good. We made some substitutions and they put one in. But our girls never gave in.”

Clark’s Stephanie Llanos scored in the 77th minute to break the scoreless tie before Anderson’s goal pulled it even.

“Cora has put a bunch of kicks on frame, but they never went in,” Parson said. “Today, the girls just decided they weren’t done with the season. In that second half, they didn’t look tired. We didn’t want to go to PKs again, and just did what we had to do to get a win.”

NIC (14-4-3), the third seed from the East Region, advances to face Peninsula (15-0-2), the top seed from the North Region on Saturday at noon in Port Angeles, Wash.

NIC lost 2-1 to Peninsula on Aug. 19 in Port Angeles.

“There was just no quit in this group,” Parson said. “We talked about it not being the end of our journey at halftime. Coming back with a goal in the 80th minute is hard to do. What our girls did today was incredible.”

First half — none. Second half — 1, Clark, Stephanie Llanos (Jocelyn Heath), 79:29. 2, NIC, Cora Anderson (free kick), 87:37. First overtime — 3, NIC, Teresa Ledezma (unassisted), 93:39. Second overtime — none.

Shots on goal — NIC 7, Clark 4.

Saves — NIC, Kaycee Chavez, 3; Clark, Amanda Jeschke, 5.

• VOLLEYBALL

North Idaho d.

Spokane 

COEUR d’ALENE — Sophomores Abigail Beaton and Jessica Stires had 11 kills each for the Cardinals in a 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 Northwest Athletic Conference sweep of the Sasquatch at Christianson Gymnasium.

“Abby, per usual, was flying and hitting the ball really hard,” NIC coach Brittany Tilleman said. “Jessica was doing really well and was serving well tonight.”

Freshman Omayra Valle had 20 digs, freshman Karolyne Wolfgramm 35 assists and 16 digs, sophomore Rachael Stacey nine digs for North Idaho (27-1, 15-0 NWAC), which concludes the regular season against visiting Columbia Basin, the third-place team in the East Region, on Friday.

“We had a huge lead (17-9), and piled on errors,” Tilleman said. “We started missing some serves and started to stay on top of it. Did a good job of controlling our side in the second and third set.”

Brooklyn Minden, a sophomore from Post Falls, had seven digs for NIC.

Elise McCammond had six kills and 10 digs for the Community Colleges of Spokane (10-16-1, 7-8).

    Photo by KYLE DISHAW/NIC Athletics North Idaho College's Brooklyn Minden (1) celebrates with teammate Omayra Valle (8) after Abigail Beaton's spike during Wednesday's Northwest Athletic Conference match against the Community Colleges of Spokane at Christianson Gymnasium on Wednesday.