The entire 2026 campaign came down to the same exact scenario.

In the 110th minute, about 30 seconds before Sunday’s Big Sky Conference tournament final was bound for a PK shootout, Weber State grabbed its victory.

In a wild moment, fifth-year forward Sayler Schlosser punched in a rebound off an indirect free kick for a golden-goal, 1-0 victory that sent No. 1 Weber State past No. 2 Northern Colorado and into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.

“The irony of it ending this way from what happened last year, it’s crazy,” second-year WSU head coach Kyle Christensen said in a post-match interview on ESPN+. “These finals are so hard, so difficult. Fought through it, got the goal in the end, and I couldn’t be more happy for them.”

It was prolific goal-scorer Lily Blum who put pressure on NoCo keeper Thordis Melsted throughout, and Melsted stood on her head all game with diving, punching stops to keep it 0-0 through the first period of extra time despite WSU’s 7-2 advantage in shots on goal to that point.

The Bears (10-7-4) used every ounce of physicality to keep Weber State off the board until the final moments. WSU sent the ball in front of NoCo’s goal, where a scrum resulted in the ball being stuck between the legs of a Bears defender on the ground, who stalled the ball there and was called for the infraction.

That resulted in an indirect free kick from just outside the 6-yard goal box. Northern Colorado put all 11 players on the goal line between the pipes, ready for the start. An indirect kick means the first player to touch it cannot send it straight into the goal.

“What went through my mind first was, ‘Oh crap, we haven’t worked on this scenario very much.’ But the girls were intelligent, figured out how to approach it, and it went our way,” Christensen said.

Simone Packer had the set-up touch for Blum, who fired unsuccessfully into the crowd. But the ball pinballed to Schlosser on the rebound, and her left-footed poke sent the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament.

“It was just a crazy, just kick the ball as hard as I could moment,” Schlosser said.

Schlosser scored both goals of WSU’s conference tournament, heading in a joust to beat Idaho 1-0 in Friday’s semifinals. She was named tournament MVP.

“This season’s meant everything to me,” said Schlosser, who sat for several weeks while awaiting decisions on the temporary restraining order (and later, a preliminary injunction) to grant her a final year of eligibility. “Last year was just such an emotional ending for us, our comeback season last year … losing in that PK shootout was so emotional.

“So being able to do it again with my team, and be able to win, and get the Big Sky Conference regular-season title and the tournament title is such a big deal for me.”

Weber State finishes the regular season with a record of 13-6-2, including 9-1-1 against Big Sky opponents.

BEEHIVE BALLIN’

Because of shared conferences, the maximum number of champions the state of Utah can produce in most college sports is four. That happened in women’s soccer with regular-season championships and Weber State’s Sunday victory sealed the deal for all four in their conference tournaments.

In Jennifer Rockwood’s final year as coach, BYU got the veteran one last trophy with a 3-2 win over Baylor on Saturday after the Cougars survived two PK shootouts to get to the tournament final.

In the Pac-12, Utah State got the double-dip as well. In two home matches, USU played Gonzaga and Boise State to 0-0 draws and won in penalty kicks, the second a 4-3 PK win Saturday over Boise that featured two stellar saves from keeper Ivy Nystrom.

Utah Valley also did the two-title tango in the Big West, defeating UC San Diego 2-1 at home Saturday to take the Big West tournament.

SELECTION SHOW

The NCAA women’s soccer selection show for the Division I tournament is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, streaming online at NCAA.com.