ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The No. 15 Nova Southeastern University women's soccer team was able to draw even and then hold firm, ending 120 minutes against Eckerd in a 1-1 tie, earning a point and keeping hope alive of the conference's No. 2 seed.
 
The Sharks (11-3-1, 4-2-1 SSC) fell behind when coincidentally, they went a player down in the 58th minute. Four seconds after a Shark was sent off, Katie Shafer of Eckerd (4-8-3, 1-6-1 SSC) scored off a set piece to make it 1-0.
 
Fifteen minutes after that, despite playing 10-on-11, Sarah Keville (Sr., Vero Beach, Fla.) found Sierra Lelii (R-Sr., Seminole, Fla.) past the Tritons' defense, and she made good on her 18th goal of the season. That evened the score at 1-1 at 72:40.
 
Each team had four shot attempts for the remainder of regulation, with Jordan Lentz (So., Fort Myers, Fla.) saving two by the home team. She also had a save in each frame of overtime, with Eckerd trying three for those 30 minutes compared to just one by the Sharks (a header by Lelii two minutes into the first extra OT).
 
The tie gives NSU 13 points on the conference standings, actually dropping them to fourth behind Barry's 19, Tampa's 16 and Florida Tech's 15. However, all three of those teams have completed their regular season. A win Thursday over Saint Leo would give the Sharks 16, tying Tampa, but NSU has the tiebreaker for the second seed by virtue of a 1-0 win earlier this season over the Spartans.

All told, depending on the result, the Sharks could finish as high as that No. 2 seeding, but as low as fifth, with the latter scenario meaning they would have a road matchup in the first round of the Championships, depending on other results. They can only control their own fate, in the finale Thursday at home against SLU, starting at 7.