FULTON, Mo.—Despite its hard fought effort for over 90:00 minutes of play, the William Woods University women's soccer team suffered a tough loss on Saturday afternoon, as the Owls fell to Lyon College, 3-2, in overtime.
After playing just two home games the entire month of September, the Owls (3-6-2; 1-3-1 AMC), treated the fans at Firley Field to a fantastic game on both sides of the ball in its first of many home games in the month of October.
The Owls had a chance to grab an early 1-0 lead at the 5:55 mark, as senior
Jordan McNamara got behind the Scots (7-4; 4-1 AMC) defense and had chance for goal, but her shot went just wide of the post.
The two teams' would continue its possession battle up until the 20
th minute, as Mikaela Buckley got the ball near mid-field and passed it up on the right side of field for Anna Waldman, who was able to get away from the Owls defense, dribble inside the 18-yard box and score her 10
th goal on the year, past WWU goalie,
Ashley Parisi, on the near side, to make it a 1-0 game.
That lead, however, was short-lived, as after receiving a pass from
Halle Schroeder inside the 18-yard box, McNamara this time found the back of the net on the far post, beating Lyon goalie Regan Kowalski, which tied the score up at 1-1.
Then, just two minutes later, Joyce De Freitas Barbosa stole the ball away from the Owls defense just 30 yards out, she then countered, dribbled inside the left side of the box and beat Parisi on the far post, which put the Scots back ahead at 2-1.
The Owls had two more scoring chances, off the foot of McNamara and
Shelby Scanlan, but neither could score the equalizer, so as both teams' headed into the break, it was the Scots ahead by one goal. In the first frame, the Owls outshot the Scots 6-3, while Kowalski made one save for the Scots.
In the second half, after picking up its offense and defense even more, the Owls hard work paid off in the 54
th minute, as
Jaclyn Zilch stole the ball away from the Scots and she passed it forward for Schroeder, who used her speed and gained the edge behind the Lyon's defense and buried her second goal on the year, which tied the game back up at 2-2.
The Scots looked to regain the lead just minutes later, as Souza and Waldman both had shot attempts, but WWU goalie
Rebecca Sturgess, who has seen added minutes as of late, came up with two huge saves.
Sturgess, a Jefferson City, Missouri, native, came up with a huge save in the 73
rd minute, as Jessica Souza was all alone inside the box, but her shot was saved by Sturgess, which kept the game all tied at 2-2.
Both teams' had a couple scoring chances as the 90:00 minute mark neared, as
Kaitlyn Wideman (77:49) and
Alex Langford (86:22), both missed their opportunities for the game winner. On the other end, Souza (89:03) and Isabel Suarez (89:35), saw its shots saved by Sturgess and as the horn sounded, it was off to overtime for the second consecutive game.
In overtime, just over a minute and 50 seconds in, the ball was lifted up field from the Scots defense and Maria Alonzo was able to kick the high bouncing ball, over the head of a charging Sturgess and into the back of the net, which gave the Scots a 3-2 win and handed WWU a tough one goal defeat.
The Owls outshot the Scots 12-9 in the game and were led by McNamara, as she totaled five shots to go along with her one goal. In net, meanwhile, coming off a career game against the Spartans of Missouri Baptist, Sturgess again had an impressive game, making five saves.
For Lyon, Souza led the team in the shot department with three, while Waldman and Suarez had two each.
William Woods will look to build off this impressive performance on the pitch and take it on the road again, as they pay a visit to Harris-Stowe State University on October 7
th. Kick-off starts at 1 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next Tuesday for a full preview of the game against the Hornets.
