BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Despite facing a halftime deficit and a wide shot discrepancy, the Miami soccer team battled Western Kentucky to a 1-1 tie on the road on Sunday afternoon.
Patricia Koutoulas' eight saves and
Lyda Bogdanovitch's first collegiate goal were enough for the RedHawks (0-2-1) to force the draw.
"Sometimes it isn't the prettiest soccer you have to play, but it's the passion that matters," head coach
Courtney Sirmans said. "We struggled with that in the first half, but we found it in the second and overtime. This was a team effort to dig deep and get the draw and now we have to work to take what we did after halftime and display it for a full 90 minutes."
The Lady Toppers (1-2-1) held the ball for long stretches of the first half and outshot the RedHawks by a 10-1 margin. MU's lone shot came off a corner kick try and it was threatening as
Lydia Brosnahan headed one on goal that Bailee Witt stopped. The bulk of the rest of the possession went to WKU and it got on the board by breaking into the 18-yard box, where Ambere Barnett finished in the 24th minute. Despite only getting that one shot, Miami kept the score within one at the break.
After being held to just one shot attempt in the first half, the Red and White got things going on the counterattack in the second. Miami generated five shot attempts in the final 45 minutes and Koutoulas stopped all three shots she faced to keep the Lady Toppers from adding to their lead.
MU's improved play finally showed on the scoresheet in the 64th minute. After corralling a throw-in and sealing off her defenders,
Olivia Winnett turned away from traffic and slid a pass through the box to the waiting foot of
Lyda Bogdanovitch. The freshman one-touched the ball into the upper 90 for her first collegiate goal to leave the score tied at 1-1. Western Kentucky responded by putting more pressure on the Miami defense, but could not get another goal as the teams played on into overtime.
The first overtime saw Western Kentucky attempt every shot of the 10 minute session, but Koutoulas stopped the only one that was on target and the match wore on into a second overtime. Second overtime was more of the same as the Lady Toppers fired four shots towards the net, but none went in as Koutoulas made a couple more stops to maintain the tie.
"You always ask your keeper to make two or three big stops a game to give you a chance," Sirmans said. "Pat gave us a chance to push to get that tying goal and she did everything we expect from her."
Western Kentucky outshot Miami 26-5 on the day and WKU also owned a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks. Koutoulas stopped eight of the nine shots that came her way while Witt stopped two shots at the other end.
Miami returns home for a pair of non-conference contests this weekend, beginning its brief home stand against Illinois State on Friday at 4 p.m.
