Western Kentucky and Charlotte both had a shot to end the regular season atop Conference USA’s East Division with a win over the other in a match Friday at the WKU Soccer Complex.

With time winding down, it looked possible neither would claim the crown.

But an injury stoppage with 51 seconds left in the second half allowed the Lady Toppers to discuss their plans for a free kick when play resumed, and the home team capitalized.

Lyric Schmidt delivered a ball to Katie Erwin, who flicked it off her head and into the net to give WKU a 1-0 victory over the 49ers and the C-USA East Division title.

“It’s just really exciting,” WKU coach Jason Neidell said. “We’ve been talking about winning championships for the last couple years, and we had a couple of tough seasons in Conference USA with some injuries and such in 2017 and 2018, and then bounced back in 2019, and to have a group that’s committed to the process – and in particular just love it for our senior captain Avery Jacobson, who’s seen the highs and the lows of the program, and to be a part of that process for her, win a conference championship for her, it’s particularly meaningful.

“This is a group that’s been disciplined and determined and committed through this whole thing and never used the pandemic as an excuse for anything and just rolled up their sleeves and got to work and grinded, and now they get the rewards of all their efforts.”

Despite opportunities for both squads, neither found a way to finish through the first 89 minutes of action. A foul near midfield on Julia Patrum gave the Lady Toppers (7-1-2 overall, 4-0-2 C-USA) one final quality chance, and Neidell had extra time to discuss plans with the clock stopped and Patrum down on the field.

“Kind of like a basketball timeout, we were able to draw up a play. The play didn’t work and the players improvised and it worked out OK,” Neidell said. “All season long, Katie Erwin’s job on those free kicks is to kind of go to the goalkeeper or put herself in position to challenge the goalkeeper, and when the play broke down that’s exactly what she did. She was at the right place at the right time because of it to knock it into the goal.”

Schmidt laid the ball to her right and it was fed back to her. She trapped it, then delivered a ball into the box that Erwin slipped past Charlotte keeper Abby Stapleton with her head.

“We definitely knew it was coming down to the last second, so we had to get people into the box and set up the play that maybe we usually wouldn’t have with a lot of time left,” Erwin said. “The play did not go as planned, but we still kept battling and it ended up working out because every one of us just went with the flow and adapted and it ended up working out.”

It’s WKU’s first league title since 2013 when it finished first in the Sun Belt Conference, and the first for the program since joining Conference USA ahead of the 2014 season. The Lady Toppers were picked to finish third in the East Division in the C-USA preseason poll.

Both teams entered with a chance to claim the crown with a win. Charlotte was atop the standings entering Friday’s tilt with 12 points, while WKU had 11 and Florida Atlantic and Old Dominion had 10 each. The Monarchs had already wrapped up their regular season, but FAU was hosting FIU on Friday. The Owls and 49ers each would have finished with 13 points with an FAU win – the Owls ended up winning 3-0 – and a draw in Bowling Green.

Instead, the last-minute goal gave WKU the top seed for next week’s C-USA Tournament.

The two entered halftime scoreless, but the Lady Toppers outshot Charlotte 11-2 in the period, including a 4-1 shots on goal advantage. WKU also had a 6-0 advantage on corners, but couldn’t connect.

Then less than 20 seconds into the second half, WKU lost its top offensive threat when Ambere Barnett went down with an injury and didn’t return. She had led the Lady Toppers with six goals and two assists in eight games, and had taken one shot until that point.

But WKU’s defense held strong and Ashley Kobylinski came away with the clean sheet – the team’s fourth of the season. Kobylinski had two saves.

“Essentially she went down about 15 seconds into the second half, so we played the rest of the second half without her,” Neidell said. “Obviously she’s a key player for us, and just really excited to see the way the team rallied around not having her on the field and really proud of the way they came together because it’s tough to play without a player that’s been a key component for you all season long.”

The Lady Toppers extended their unbeaten streak to nine matches with the win. WKU hasn’t lost since its season opener at North Alabama.

WKU will now head to the C-USA Tournament, which is scheduled to be played April 13-17 in Houston. The Lady Toppers will open against UAB on Tuesday at 11 a.m. UAB is the No. 4 seed out of the West after securing their spot in the tournament with a win against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

Only eight teams make the women’s soccer C-USA Championship, the top four from the East and the top four from the West.

The winner between WKU and UAB will advance to the semifinals Thursday against the winner of (2W) North Texas and (3E) Charlotte at 4:30 p.m. The championship game will be Saturday at noon.{&end}