MONMOUTH, Ore. – While the Western Oregon University women's soccer team had been dominating play throughout the game, they weren't able to find a goal through the first 87-plus minutes against Saint Martin's. Then over the final three minutes, everything changed. The Wolves tallied two goals within 26 seconds and after the Saints picked up a goal nearly a minute later, WOU was able to outlast Saint Martin's for the 2-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon at the WOU Soccer Field. The 20 shots for the Wolves is a season-high and the seventh time this year WOU has had at least 10 or more shots.

"I think we responded really well after our loss Thursday. We knew we had a lot to prove today. It was great to see us so dominant around the goal," head coach Kacey Bingham said. "We scored two great goals today and it was great to see Jenna get her first goal this season. I think overall our defense was really strong, but we need to do better on defending corner kicks."

As the time ticked down closer to overtime, it looked like the teams would go to the extra session scoreless. Erika Gonzalez Moreno worked a great pass ahead to Lilly Nowatzke, who was able to beat her defender and as she made the turn into the box, made a great cross pass to Jenna Efraimson waiting on the back post. Efraimson was able to knock it home past a sliding goalie for the first goal of the game in the 88^th minute.

WOU (4-6-2, 3-3-2 GNAC) wasted little time adding to the lead. On what looked like was setting up to be a clear out for Saint Martin's goalie turned into anything but routine. Sophie Mendoza tried to clear from about midway in the box and Alyssa Talkington took a chance and went for the ball. She was able to time the kick by the goalie and blocked the clear. The ball rolled backwards and as both players went for it, Talkington was able to knock it just past the line into the net for a 2-0 lead for another goal in the 88^th minute with the goals coming 26 seconds apart.

The game was far from finished still at that point. Just under a minute later, the Saints (3-9. 2-6 GNAC) generated a corner kick and got back into it. Taylor Goodpaster sent the ball high into the box and Maddie Wolff was waiting near the back post to head the ball home in the 89^th minute to leave WOU with a 2-1 lead.

After that, the Wolves were able to control the ball over the final minute-plus to take the 2-1 victory.

Early on, the Wolves had a couple of strong rushes with Efraimson up at forward, she was able to get a couple of shots on target that were saved within the first 10 minutes.

WOU continued with the pressure getting looks from Jada Foster, Nowatzke, Piper Matson and Gabby Pulliam all within the first 20 minutes.

The Saints weren't able to mount a chance until the 30^th minute when a corner kick led to a shot being blocked out high. In the closing minutes of the first half, WOU had a couple of chances off two corner kicks with Gonzalez Moreno and Nowatzke each taking shots that were blocked to send the game to halftime scoreless.

In the 71^st minute, Gonzalez Moreno made a nice move on the defender in close to get a shot on goal that was saved by Mendoza. Gonzalez Moreno, Briana Kubli and Efraimson all just missed on chances over the next 10-plus minutes.

That ended up setting the scene for the crazy ending with three goals in three minutes.

WOU held a strong 20-10 advantage in shots, including 5-2 on goal. The Wolves generated six corner kicks to four for the Saints. There were 20 fouls whistled in the game, 12 called on the Wolves.

WOU had five players play all 90 minutes in Efraimson, Liz Parker, Chloe Smith, Camille Darland and Olivia Holdenried. Nowatzke, Gonzalez Moreno and Foster all played at least 83 minutes. Efraimson and Nowatzke led the way in shots with five apiece, while Gonzalez Moreno added three. In goal, Holdenried made her first collegiate start and picked up her first win tallying one save.

Wolff led the Saints with three shots, while Justine Pauly added two. In goal, Mendoza started and played all 90 minutes, tallying three saves.

With the win, WOU now has 11 conference points which keeps them in fifth in the standings. Northwest Nazarene won at Central Washington to move to 13 points and will either be in third or fourth depending on results. Simon Fraser at Western Washington were still playing at the time of sending out this story.

WOU continues the homestand this coming week as they host Northwest Nazarene for a big matchup on Thursday afternoon in Monmouth starting at 2 p.m. The Wolves will close the homestand against Central Washington on Saturday at 2 p.m.