The North Branford took its into the Shoreline Conference Tournament where the third-seeded T-Birds took on No. 2 seed Portland on Portland's home turn on Nov. 3.
The teams battled through regulation and then overtime to a scoreless tie with each team taking 10 shots. Portland and North Branford then matched up through two rounds of penalty kicks, going 3-3 and 2-2 to force a third round of PKs.
Both teams heated up in the third round with North Branford taking an 8-6 advantage for the win and to advance to the Shoreline tourney finals, which will be held on Monday, Nov. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Cromwell.
The T-Birds will face top-seeded Coginchaug. During the regular season, North Branford took a 2-1 overtime win on Sept. 19 and then dropped a 3-0 decision on Oct. 18.
Against Portland, which fell to 12-4-1, penalty kick scorers for North Branford were Emmy Dulak and Alex Stowe with two apiece and Shannon Anderson, Sarah McDonald, Jessica Iannucci and Natalie Baughan, who each netted one. Baughan's PK was the game-winner.
Both goalkeepers, including North Branford's Katelyn Pantera, made seven saves with Pantera also stopping four Portland penalty kicks.
