Box Score

ST. PAUL – It took an extra 20 minutes, and even then the University of Northwestern versus Bethany Lutheran College women's soccer game ended in a gridlocked 1-1 tie. Both teams battled it out to the very end of regulation, the first overtime, and the second, but key stops by both defensive fronts prevented any game-winning goals.

Northwestern recovered well from Friday's 5-3 loss to Martin Luther College, scoring just 7:41 into the contest. Senior Lauren Cleope (Manila, Philippines/Faith Academy) notched her first score of this year's campaign to put UNW up on the board for the first and final time. The rest of the half featured a lot of offensive pressure from the visiting Bethany Lutheran squad, but the Eagle defense and goalkeeper Emily Johnson (Esko, Minn./Esko) prevented any balls from landing in the back of the net.

The Vikings came out of intermission aggressively with Asia Owens posting a shot just 1:42 in, and then following that up with a goal just over five minutes later. The score evened the early lead the Purple and Gold had earned and would ultimately stand the test of time.

Although the ball traveled back and forth across the midline multiple times, neither team was able to notch any sort of advantage. UNW earned a corner kick with 32 seconds ticking off the clock but nothing was able to come of it as regulation came to a close.

The first overtime period featured Eagle pushes towards goal courtesy of Jordan Skarin (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo ). The Viking defense buckled down and put an end to both of those chances, sending the game into yet more extra time.

BLC took advantage of offensive chances in the second overtime but was unable to hit target and UNW returned the favor with just minutes remaining. Nothing moved forward, and the game ended at a 1-1 score after 110 minutes of action.

Bethany Lutheran bested the home team on the scoreboard in shot total with 18 in comparison to 25, but the Eagles owned the advantage in corner kicks with seven total tallied in the final three periods.

Northwestern (1-3-1, 0-1-1 conference) will see the same Viking squad later in the season on BLC's home turf, but before then will travel to Ashland, Wis. on Friday, September 27 for a 4:15 p.m. afternoon matchup with Northland College. UNW will also play at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 28, this time at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn.