Golden Eagles come back from a one goal deficit to take the Bulldogs into sudden death
The Tennessee Tech women's soccer team took a 2-1 lead into the 78th minute of regulation Wednesday evening, but a tying goal by Louisiana Tech spun the game into a 3-2 win for the Bulldogs in sudden death.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech women's soccer team took a 2-1 lead into the 78th minute of regulation Wednesday evening, but a tying goal by Louisiana Tech spun the game into a 3-2 win for the Bulldogs in sudden death.
TTU held Louisiana Tech scoreless on their home field for the first 20 minutes of play before Emily Brennan caught Golden Eagle goalie Megan Polk off the line with a chip shot over her head to put the Bulldogs on the board first.
Despite the one goal deficit, Tech paced the Bulldogs with their precise passing and persistance, going shot for shot with Louisiana tech in the first half and netting the tying goal just six minutes later. Freshman Taylor Hicks fueled the attack for Tech, connecting with Ellie Iaciofano whose pass found Andrea Meloff 10 yards in front of the goal. Meloff beat the keeper Caitlin Updyke with a hard shot on the ground to even the score in the 27th minute.
Game momentum shifted then for the Golden Eagles, as Jacquie Watkins followed up on a blocked shot by Meloff to earn her first goal of the season and give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead in the 31st minute of play.
Freshman keeper Becca Toler replaced Polk for the second half of the game, and the Golden Eagle defense locked into place until the 78th minute of play. Once again, the Bulldogs caught the TTU keeper off the goal line, and this time Toler shouldered a goal by Rachel King. Toler faced a total of seven shots in the second half, saving two of them. Polk notched three saves in the first half.
With the game headed into the first 10 minute golden goal period, momentum had shifted once again, this time for the Bulldogs. Toler notched another save in the first OT period to keep the score even at two and send the game into the second ten minutes of golden goal play.
The Bulldogs pulled through in the clutch however, and just 37 seconds into the second overtime period, Kiva Greshman scored the game winning goal in the 101st for a final score of 3-2 in favor of the Bulldogs.
"This was definitely a tough loss to swallow," said head coach Daniel Brizard. "It's never easy to walk away from a sudden death loss. But we're learning the importance of locking into our positions and maintaining constant pressure on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field."
The Golden Eagles will have 10 days off of competitive play before they take on Radford in Cookeville for their final non-conference match-up of the 2010 season.
