DES MOINES, IOWA ? Sophomore Crystal Townley (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored two goals, the last one in the 106th minute (105:18) to lift the Drake women's soccer team to a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Missouri State in the first round of the 2007 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Sunday at Drake Stadium.

Drake, which improved its record to 7-9-2, will face top-seeded Illinois State in the semifinal round at 5 p.m., Friday at Black Beauty field in Evansville, Ind.

Senior Sinead Brown (Toronto, Ontario) recorded an assist on the game-winning tally by Townley which came from 15-yards out in the center of the field.

“Going into this match we knew Missouri State was going to be stingy, hard competitors,” said Drake head coach Corbin Stone. “As a result we wanted to make sure that we kept the ball moving and tried to go around instead of through them, and it worked. Cross after cross we whipped in across the face of the goal.”

Townley's first goal was scored in the 53rd minute (52:40) of a centering pass from sophomore Melissa Lewis (Edina, Minn.). Townley one timed the ball and sent it to the left side of the goal just out of the reach of Missouri State goalkeeper Jackie Jasper.

“We were a bit unfortunate not to score two more in regulation, two went off the bar, maybe one crossed the line, which was difficult to tell from our angle. Once we got our goal we relaxed a little too much and gave up a soft goal in transition,” added Stone.

Nicole Logan answered back to knot the game, 1-1, less than a minute later for the Bears, taking a shot from the center of the box to beat Bulldog goalkeeper Jenny Schroeder (Albuquerque, N.M.) to the left side.

Schroeder made four saves, three of which came in the first period, in goal for the Bulldogs. Jasper made three saves for Missouri State.

The Bears were whistled for 12 fouls during a very physical match, Drake was called for three.

“At 1-1 we could have easily wavered, but we kept at it and stuck to the game plan. Critical though it was to execute, perhaps the more important element for this game were some exceptional performances. Our seniors tried to drive the team.  Blair Nelson was terrific in the back, Townley was deadly in front of the goal and Lewis was an ever-present danger on the flank,” added Stone.

Senior Sarah Foote (Arvada, Colo.) led the Bulldogs with four shots, while Samantha Agular led the Bears with three.

Drake doubled Missouri State's shot output, 14-7, and both teams had five shots on goal.