EVANSVILLE, IND. ? Carrie Schurr scored the winning goal in the 101st minute (100:57) as top-seeded Illinois State beat the Drake women's soccer team in the semifinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer championship Friday night.
Drake rallied in the final 12-minutes with a goal by senior Sarah Foote (Arvada, Colo.) off a pass from Elizabeth Woerle (Coon Rapids, Minn.) in the 79th minute (78:21). Foote shot a grass-skimmer from 10-yards out to the near post.
“Sarah Foote worked hard to give us a chance in the game, scoring her goal,” said Drake head coach Corbin Stone.
Senior Julie Hickman (Littleton, Colo.) scored the tying unassisted goal in the 85th minute (84:05) to send the match into overtime at 2-2. Hickman sent an 18-yard blast into the far post.
“Hickman who has seen limited minute lately gave us the chance, with one leg, to win the game evening the score,” said Stone.
With the win the Redbirds advance to the finals of the State Farm MVC Championship Sunday, play the winner of the Evansville/Creighton match which started at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“Much like most of our season we created tons of chances but just couldn't finish enough of them to get a result,” said Stone. “Unlike maybe some other games though, we fought our way back to draw even and force overtime. We felt like were going to win the game but their goalkeeper was there to make some tremendous saves.”
Bethany Russ scored the Redbirds first goal ending a 63-minute scoreless tie on a five yard blast, served up by Mel Routledge.
Ammanda Wisniewski scored Illinois State's second goal in the 67 minute (66:41) from the left side on a feed from Amanda Lauber.
The Redbirds outshot the Bulldogs 18-14, taking ten shots on goal. Drake took 10 shots on goal to Illinois State's seven.
Sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Lee (Southlake, Texas), filling in for injured starter Jenny Schroeder (Albuquerque, N.M.), made a career high four saves in goal for the Bulldogs. Katie Grill-Donovan made eight saves for Illinois State.
“Coming into the game we had some critical injuries that forced us to play with only three in the back. It wasn't a bad thing given the fact that it allowed us to play more of our dangerous attacking personalities. We felt if we kept the pressure on them and shortened the field we would have to defend less. As it was I thought they had a tough time figuring out how to play against it, but we made two mistakes which they capitalized on it and before you knew it we were 2-0 down,” commented Stone.
“At that point we decided to go with our seniors. If there were anybody that was going to win the game it was them. So we through caution to the wind and put all our seniors on the field and played a 3-4-3 and pulled back two goals,” added Stone.
The Redbirds committed 10 offsides penalties while, Drake was whistled for five.
Drake had an excellent scoring chance early in the match when senior Nikki Thaden fired off a blast from 10 yards out in the fourth minute, but Grill-Donovan came up with the save.
Foote led the Bulldogs with three shots, two were on goal. Russ led all players with six shots.
The Bulldogs, who were the defending MVC Tournament champion completed the season with a 7-10-2 overall mark.
