ADVANCING THE BALL — Catholic Central’s Mary Rohde sends the ball up the field past Linsly’s Bailey Heinbaugh during Wednesday’s OVAC secmifinal match. - Andrew Grimm

STEUBENVILLE — Sometimes teams just match up dead even with one another regardless of record or circumstance.

That certainly seems to be the case with Catholic Central’s and Linsly’s girls soccer teams this season.

After battling to a draw earlier in the season, the Crusaders and Cadets again went through 80 minutes of soccer without deciding a winner in Wednesday’s OVAC Class 1A-3A tournament semifinal.

A winner was not decided in two five-minute overtimes, either, nor through the scheduled five rounds of a penalty kick shootout.

In the first extra round of the shootout, however, Gigi Rook’s shot found the back of the net for Central and then Crusaders goal keeper Josie Urbanczyk made the only save of the shootout to send Central to Saturday’s championship match.

“I just kept kept telling the girls to keep their heads up and keep pushing and enjoy themselves,” Catholic Central head coach Jonathan Hoover said. “We kept pushing and got the result. That’s the first time we’ve beat Linsly in any match since I’ve been here, so we’re pretty happy about it. Both teams had chances, it was the kind of game you like to see.

“I think every team practiced penalties this week … the PKs definitely change things, but that’s why you practice them. We practiced them coming into the season and we try to practice them at least once a week and it definitely paid off.”

Urbanczyk not only made the game-clinching save in the shoutout, she made several game-savers, including one late in regulation time to preserve the deadlock.

“We had our chances, they had chances, Josey made a fantastic save and the end of regulation, it was a great save right on the line,” Hoover said. “To make a save like that at the end of regulation and then in the shootout shows a lot of confidence. She did well on them in practice and I knew if she could just get her hands on one, that would be it. Thankfully she did and made the big save.”

Both teams missed in the first and fourth rounds of the shootout and both teams scored in rounds two, three and five.

“It’s the kind of game you hate to see someone have to lose,” Linlsy head coach Alexis McKeown said. “The girls gave it everything they had, I’m proud of them. There were a lot of chances both ways, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and jumping up and down. We had some chances, we just weren’t able to finish one.

“When you get to PKs, anything can happen. It’s really nerve-wracking to go up there and take PKs under pressure like that so I’m proud of the girls’ effort in those, too.”

The Crusaders, the No. 2 seed, had a few good looks throughout the game, including multiple near misses in overtime. The fourth-seeded Cadets, who have a 0-9-2 mark but play a strong schedule, had several chances of their own to get win No. 1.

The teams battled to a 1-1 draw in Wheeling three weeks prior to Wednesday’s rematch in the OVACs.

The Crusaders (10-1-1) move on to take on Wheeling Central in Saturday’s championship match. The Maroon Knights won a prior meeting 3-0 on Sept. 11.

“Anytime you can go play for a trophy it’s a great experience,” Hoover said. “They got the best of us in the first one, hopefully we can get them (Saturday).”