WASHINGTON, D.C. — It took extra time, but Catholic prevailed over Drew in the Landmark Conference Semifinal on Thursday night to book its place in the 2023 Landmark Conference Championship.

Isabel Doherty's third goal of the season was enough to push Catholic through to its first final since 2015. The strike came in the 93rd minute, three minutes into the first overtime period, sending the Cardinals into pandemonium. 

It was about as dominant of a performance as possible for Catholic in a match that went beyond 90 minutes. The Cardinals outshot Drew 20-8 overall and did not allow a shot on target until the 108th minute. Drew hung in well, however, and was able to frustrate Catholic for large chunks of the match.

Casey Sommers' side started the match on the front foot, creating a handful of meaningful chances in the opening 15 minutes. Peyton Coron forced a comfortable save out of freshman goalkeeper Sarah Crowley before Sara Placide went very close to opening the scoring in the ninth minute.

After Drew partially cleared its lines following a corner kick, the ball popped out to Placide about 25 yards from goal. The midfielder unleashed a brilliant strike that flew toward Crowley's right-hand post, but the freshman flew through the air to get fingertips to the strike and push it around the post. The early save marked the best of her eight stops on the night.

The Rangers grew into the match and were arguably the better side for the final 10-15 minutes of the half but were unable to create any clear-cut chances. They did have a shout for a penalty kick late in the opening stanza but the referee waved away the contact that saw Rebecca Racine and Emily Harkins come together in the penalty area.

After the break the Cardinals did their best to turn the screw and find the breakthrough. However it wasn't until the 75th minute when both teams had golden opportunities to win the match.

The best two chances of the match to that point came to Drew. With 15 minutes remaining, Rangers top-scorer Alexa Krause created a turnover in the Catholic defense. After racing in toward goal and cutting back to beat one defender, she put a shot wide of Ava Rieger's near post while staring the goalkeeper down just 10 yards from goal.

It was an even bigger chance for Racine in the 81st minute when she was sprung through on goal courtesy of a brilliant ball from Mazzy Cirinelli, but the midfielder put it wide of the on-rushing Rieger's right-hand post.

Catholic had its own brilliant opportunity to win the match in the 83rd minute when last-ditch defending kept Drew in the match. Jordan Siok saw a close-range effort cleared off the line by Cirinelli immediately before Ava Gregorio's goal-bound shot was kept out by another goal-line clearance from Jessie Brannick. A third effort in quick succession was put out for a goal kick.

The Cardinals used the five minutes between the end of regular time and beginning of extra time to focus up and rally their efforts toward breaking down the stout Ranger defense. Less than three minutes into the first extra stanza, Lauren Cerda won the ball back for Catholic and quickly found Siok, who utilized a brilliant across-the-body pass to find Doherty at the top of the area. Just onside, Doherty took one touch and fired it low into the far post to send the large crowd at Carlini into a frenzy.

Drew didn't have much left in the tank as Catholic inched toward the victory. Kayla Kuncken fired a long-range shot in the 108th minute but it was meat and drink for Rieger who kept her ninth clean sheet of the campaign.

The back line led by Teighan Boyle and Sam Cesario was class once again, contributing a staggering 12th clean sheet in 19 attempts this year. Payton Hardy instrumental in the victory, putting on a woman-of-the-match level performance in midfield, winning virtually every ball in her holding role.

The Cardinals will travel to No. 1 seed Scranton on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. Catholic will be looking for redemption from a 3-1 loss earlier this season and 1-0 double-overtime loss to the Royals in last year's Landmark Conference Semifinal. Rieger produced a conference-tournament-record 15 saves in that match last season.