Stefanie Cerda broke away from the Newport Knights’ defense and scored the game-winning goal to lift the Mount Si Wildcats to a 1-0 overtime victory over the Knights in KingCo 3A varsity girls’ soccer action last week.

The win gave the Wildcats their first conference win after three straight conference losses. The goal from the Mount Si junior defender, which came in the 81st minute, capped off a strong Mount Si effort which lasted the entire second half and earned coach Bruce Caldwell’s praise.

“There were a lot of good individual efforts tonight. I thought Kelsie Owen did a great job tonight; of course Kristen [Berndt] when she was in there. Our keepers did a really good job. It was just an all around good team effort. They finally put it together in the second half and got really strong and put it away in overtime,” he said.

The win did not come without a price. Berndt, the Wildcats’ star junior forward, collided violently with a teammate and Newport goalkeeper Leah Koshiyama as Berndt attempted to score a goal in the 60th minute. She left under her own power and did not return.

“She’s a little dizzy. She got hit in the head pretty good,” Caldwell said.

Berndt suffered a concussion as a result of the collision and missed the Issaquah game Thursday, but Caldwell said she should be available to play for the Wildcats against Mercer Island this week.

The collision cut short what was several minutes of strong play by Berndt, which included several scoring chances, one of which missed off the top of the crossbar at the 57th minute.

The game opened with a defensive stand by both teams as they played end to end, but neither side could get anything going.

The Wildcats changed that to open the second half, and the stats reflected it. They outshot the Knights 13-6 in the second half. Cerda’s goal, into the lower right corner of the net past Koshiyama, was the first shot on goal in overtime for the Wildcats.

Goalkeepers junior Kristen Travis and senior Caitlin Braun combined for the shutout.