MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.-- Women's Soccer showed progress in a tough 2-0 road loss to The University of Minnesota-Morris and they turned that momentum into a 1-0 home victory over Crown College on Saturday. After dropping Friday's match to the Cougars which helped them clinch the second spot in the UMAC post season tourament, NCU bounced back to close their regular season with a victory over the Storm.

Friday the Rams were defeated 2-0 by Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.) in a match that showed some progress from an 8-0 defeat to the same Cougars in early October. The Rams were outshot 9-5 in the loss.

Saturday afternoon the forward progress showed in a more tangible way for NCU with a 1-0 home win over Crown College (St. Bonifacius, Minn.). Following a painful 5-1 loss to the Storm in early October, a win over their metro area rival is a small bit of solace in a tough overall season for NCU.

North Central and Crown were locked in a scoreless tie through halftime and remained so until near the hour mark. Senior Marissa Dean (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) got the game's first and only goal at the 59 minute mark and that would stand as the game winner for NCU.

Freshman goalkeeper Rachael Chant (Chanhassen, Minn./Bethany Academy) stopped all six shots she faced and the Rams defense posted their third clean sheet of the year.

North Central ends their second UMAC campaign 1-13 in league play. The victory over Crown moved the Rams to 3-17 overall.

North Central will now experience post-season action in the NCCAA regional tournament next Friday. The Rams take on Faith Baptist Bible College (Ankeny, Iowa) at 1 p.m. in Ankeny. With a win the Rams would advance to the regional final on Saturday afternoon.