FENTON, Mo. - Webster University kept its 2019 season alive here on Thursday evening as senior forward Melissa Kasper (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) scored in the 30th minute to seal the top-seeded Gorloks 1-0 shutout victory over fourth-seeded Westminster (Mo.) College in the semifinals of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament at World Wide Technology Soccer Park. 

Kasper's goal was her second straight game winning goal as she tallied the game winner with 14 seconds left this past Saturday in Webster's 1-0 win over Greenville to help the Gorloks claim a share of its eighth consecutive SLIAC regular season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the SLIAC Tournament. 

With the win, Webster improves to 14-4-1 overall and advances to Saturday's SLIAC Tournament Championship match against No. 2 seeded Greenville at 1 p.m. at WWT Soccer Park. Greenville advanced to Saturday's final with a 2-1 home win Thursday against third-seeded Fontbonne University. Westminster closes the 2019 season with a 6-9-3 record. 

"It was a goal of our team from the beginning of this season to play in the conference championship game," said Webster women's soccer head coach Luigi Scire. "The players have prepared extremely hard all season long and have been focused and disciplined."

The goal by Kasper, which was assisted by senior forward Savannah Page (Sandy, Utah/Jordan), came after Page had pressured Blue Jay goalkeeper Sarah Cradick, who had the ball and forced a miss-kick that Kasper gathered and she lofted a shot from 20 yards out that floated past Cradick for the only score of Thursday's semifinal match.

For Kasper, it was her 14th goal of the season and 48th of her collegiate career. She is sixth on the school's all-time list for goals scored and is fourth ion career points with 150. 

The Blue Jays, who were outshot 20-6 in the match, had a chance to force a tie with about three minutes left in the match but a shot from Madison Ekern near the goal hit the crossbar to keep Westminster off the scoreboard. 

Along with holding a 20-6 edge in shots, the Gorloks also had a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. 

Kasper paced the Gorloks with six shots and had four shots on goal, while senior midfielder Olivia Osterhage (St. Louis, Mo./Eureka) and sophomore midfielder Ryleigh Grommet (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) each had four shots, while Page took three shots in the win. For the match, six Gorloks recorded at least one shot and five of those six Gorloks had at least one shot on goal.

The shutout was the fifth straight for the Gorloks and its SLIAC-leading 12 shutout of the season. The Gorloks haven't allowed a goal in 491-plus minutes dating to the 48th minute of its 1-0 loss at home to Fontbonne on Oct. 19. 

Freshman Taryn Banfield (Plano, Texas/Plano East), who has been in goal for its last five shutouts, picked up the win to move to 13-3-1 overall on the year. Banfield finished the match with three saves. 

Cradick (6-9-3) took the loss in goal for the Blue Jays as she recorded eight saves and allowed just that one goal to Kasper. 

Maddy Lawton and Kate Ponder each took two shots and had all four Westminster's shots on goal. 

The Gorloks, who will playing in its record league 13th championship game on Saturday, will be looking to earn its league record 10th SLIAC Tournament title and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament. Webster is 9-3 all-time in SLIAC Tournament final games and is playing in the championship game for the first time since 2017 when they defeated Fontbonne, 1-0. 

"It should be a great championship game against two quality teams and we look forward to the challenge on Saturday," the Webster coach added.