FULTON, Mo.—On a hot and humid night at Firley Field on Thursday, the William Woods University women's soccer team earned a hard fought 1-1 tie (2OT) against Avila University.
"It was certainly end-to-end action all night long," said head coach
Randy Hall. "With the heat like it is, to survive without injuries isn't a terrible thing. Obviously we are a little disappointed with the result, and despite being able to trade punches, we just wished better for ourselves."
The two teams' combined for 41 shots in 110:00 minutes of play, while the goaltenders were able to make a total of 16 saves.
After a back-and-forth first 20 minutes of play, in the 22
nd minute, a foul was called on a WWU player, which awarded the Eagles (0-2-1) a penalty kick. Caroline Hayes was able to bury her shot into the bottom right hand corner of the net, to make it a 1-0 game.
In the 30
th minute, however, the Owls (0-2-1) answered back, as
Shelby Scanlan made a great pass up to senior
Jordan McNamara, who got behind the Eagles defense and was able to net the teams' and her first goal on the 2015 season, which tied the game 1-1.
In the final 15:00 minutes of play in the first half, WWU was outshot 3-1, but
Ashley Parisi was able to come up with the necessary saves, to keep the score at 1-1 with both teams' heading to the break. The Eagles held a shot advantage of 9-6 in the first frame, with Parisi being busy in net, making five saves.
In the first 10:00 minutes of the second half, the Owls controlled the pitch, having a shot advantage of 4-0, with three attempts coming from McNamara, while the other coming from
Renee Meyer, but despite the teams' efforts, Eagles goalie Stacey Schimmel, kept the game at a 1-1 score.
The Owls totaled 11 shots in the second half, to the Eagles eight, but neither team was able to break the 1-1 tie, so extra time was needed. Through the 90:00 minutes of action, the two teams' totaled 17 shots each, while Parisi made seven saves and Schimmel saved six.
In the first OT, the Eagles got shot attempts from Caitlyn Chamberlain, Caroline Hayes and Sara Collins, while the defense held WWU shot-less, but none of the shots found the back of the net, so both teams' had to prepare for one final 10:00 minute of play.
In the final overtime, the Eagles again totaled four shots, but Parisi was able to come up with three key saves and the defense was able to hold strong as the clock hit zero, which ended the outing in a 1-1 tie.
WWU totaled 17 shots in the game, with five coming from Scanlan and McNamara, while Meyer,
Elyssa Cappaert,
Jaclyn Zilch,
Leah Bonugli,
Hailey LaCroix,
Annie Graber and
Kaitlyn Wideman had one shot each. In goal, Parisi had another strong game, making 10 saves, which is just one off her career-high she set earlier this season.
"For me
Kailyn Graham was the player of the game tonight," said Coach Hall. "Parisi came up with three big saves in the first half as well and if we can get Jordan (McNamara) catching her stride and work a rotation with some other players on the wing and take advantage of the space we are finding available, I think we find plenty of success throughout the year."
The Eagles, meanwhile, had 24 shots and were led by Sydney James with four, while Kayla Young, Hayes, Chamberlain and Keely Audas had three shots a piece.
The Owls will return to the pitch on September 8
th, as the team hosts Central Methodist University. Kick-off will start at 7 p.m.
Fans make sure to stay updated on wwuowls.com next week for a full preview of the outing against CMU.
