Stephen F. Austin
Northwestern State
SFA, NSU Tie 1-1 in Conference Opener
9/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
SFA 1, NSU 1 (2OT) 
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin women’s soccer team scratched and clawed all night in Friday evening’s Southland Conference opener, but couldn’t find separation from Northwestern State in a 1-1 draw after two overtime periods at SFA Soccer Field.
After conceding an early goal to Northwestern State (3-4-2, 0-0-1 SLC) in the ninth minute, SFA turned to junior captain Amanda Doyle for the answer. The midfielder showcased her creativity after being played a through ball into the right side of the box from senior forward Ashton Norman. Doyle collected the pass near the endline, made a defender miss on a cut back toward the center of the field and slotted a crisp shot past the keeper at the near post.
The goal, Doyle’s first of the season and seventh of her career, leveled the game at 1-1. Norman was given the assist, her first of the year, after playing the fine pass to her teammate into space. Norman currently leads the team with three points this season.
“I think our overall play was very good tonight,” said head coach Wally Crittenden. “I was proud of how we responded to the early goal. We’ve had some adversity over the course of the season but it was great to see our girls bounce back after going down a goal in the first conference game. We will keep building and moving forward from this – we don’t need to change much. We’ll continue to emphasize the importance of finishing in the final six yards because we had some great chances to score a game winning goal tonight.”
After 90 minutes of regulation and two, 10-minute overtime periods, the 1-1 draw gave each team one point towards the conference standings.
The Ladyjacks (1-6-1, 0-0-1 SLC) put numerous dangerous attacks together, outshooting the Lady Demons 22-16 with a 13-9 edge in shots on goal. At the end of regulation, SFA had more than double the amount of shots (21-10) and shots on target (13-6) than NSU.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Lillie Ehlert ended the night with eight saves for SFA, including three big stops in the overtime periods. She got her fingertips on a rocket heading upper 90 in the first 10 minutes of added time before sprawling out to stop a breakaway chance in the second OT to keep things even at 1-1.
The only blemish on the scoresheet came in the ninth minute when NSU’s Shelby Drope played a through ball to Esdeina Gonzalez, who scored on the one-on-one chance. Gonzalez scorched a shot that rattled the crossbar and bounced over the line before coming back out into play. Her second goal of the year gave the Lady Demons first blood, 1-0.
SFA had its fair share of openings to take the lead after Doyle’s equalizer, the best of which came with 36:25 gone in the first half. A Lady Demon defender was charged with a hand ball in the box at the juncture, giving the Ladyjacks a penalty kick. Sophomore midfielder Madison Hall drove a ball on goal but NSU’s Brooke Bourbonais pulled off a diving save to smother the golden opportunity.
In the second half senior defender Chantal Curry beat the keeper with a shot from five yards out but a Lady Demon defender was able to provide cover at the last second to prevent the go-ahead goal. Norman also came within inches of a potential game-winner in the 63rd minute, redirecting a pass from Crystal Calvit towards the far post. The shot required another diving save from NSU’s keeper.
Sophomore forward Hanna Barker led SFA with seven shots on the night and tied with Doyle for the team-high in shots on goal (3). Kelly Ann Craig and Breanna Moore also sent shots on target in the game.
The Ladyjacks will have Sunday off from competition but will return to SFA Soccer Field for SLC games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Baptist next week. SFA and Corpus will play on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. before HBU comes to town on Sunday, Sept. 27 for a 1:00 p.m. game.
-SFA-
