SUPERIOR, Wis. - Two of the top teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference squared off Wednesday night, as the Yellowjackets hosted their rival from St. Scholastica at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex. The late-season date meant the teams would square off with post-season positioning on the line, with the winner in the driver's seat to potentially hold the conference's top seed come playoff time next week.

It was an entertaining match from start to finish Wednesday, with neither team giving an inch on the pitch, but St. Scholastica netted a goal with under 20 minutes to go and it stood up, as the Saints edged the Yellowjackets 2-1.

With the Tuesday results, the Yellowjackets (5-2-0, 5-2-0 UMAC) now sit in third place in the UMAC, one game behind Minnesota Morris who is 6-1-0, and who the Yellowjackets own the tiebreaker over. St. Scholastica currently sits atop the conference standings with a perfect 6-0-0 mark.

St. Scholastica sniper Morgan Friday, who entered the match with 16 goals in just five matches, broke in on the left side and blasted a shot past Yellowjacket goalkeeper Morgan Philliber (Apple Valley, Minn./Edina) into the lower right corner at 70:48 of the match to put the Saints in front for good. Friday was front and center offensively for the Saints, attempting eight shots and putting six shots on goal, both highs in the match.

The Saints opened the scoring early when Hunter Zamzow beat Philliber with a left-footer less than seven minutes into the match to make it 1-0.

However, the Yellowjackets were undeterred and came back to tie things in the 22nd minute. Lindrey Schendel (Firestone, Colo./Skyline) started the play and Niya Wilson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) finished it, scoring from in tight to tie it 1-1. For Wilson, who put on a spectacular display of ball control in the match, it was her sixth goal of the season, which leads the team. Meanwhile, for Schendel, the assist was her first collegiate point and came in one of her strongest matches of her freshman season.

After the Yellowjacket goal, St. Scholastica dialed up the pressure, putting two shots in quick succession off the cross bar, but the Yellowjacket defense didn't break and the teams were tied going into halftime.

After the second Saints goal the Yellowjackets had chances to draw even, including a corner kick in the final 10 seconds of the match, but they were unable to get the equalizer.

Philliber had one of her strongest matches of the season in goal for the Yellowjackets, facing 19 shots including 14 on goal. She made 12 saves in the match, which represented a season high for Philliber, and the second-highest single-game total of her Yellowjacket career. For the match the Yellowjackets were outshot 14-2.

The Yellowjackets will close out the UMAC regular season Saturday when they travel to Ashland to take on Northland College. The opening kickoff from Ponzio Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.