Sept. 14, 2017- Concordia University Chicago Women's Soccer team took the field against Illinois Institute of Technology at home Thursday evening still searching for their first win of the season. The Cougars were coming into the match with a record of 0-4-1 and struggling to find a rhythm offensively. CUC wasn't the only team trying to break into the win column, IIT also came into the match winless on the year at 0-5. Like the Cougars, IIT was having trouble on the offensive end of the field and only had scored two goals on the season. However, scoring was not a problem for either team in the first half, both scoring a pair of goals and entering the second half at 2-2. It did not just take two halves to complete this match, two more overtimes were necessary to crown a winner. Time ran out and the two overtimes weren't enough ending the game in a draw.
Starting off the first half of play, the Cougars took control of possession and dictated the tempo. Only four minutes into action Sydney Fuller scored her first goal of the season on a header from Sarah LaCost who had laid in a beautiful set piece into the box to open up the scoring. The Cougars rarely let the ball fall into their defensive end until the eleventh minute when IIT's Julia Taliana poked a shot into the back center of the net to even it up at 1-1.
Both teams traded blows once again in the twenty-third minute with each team scoring in succession. The first score came from CUC's Sarah LaCost, netting her first goal of the season from eighteen yards out, right over the goalkeeper's head to make the score 2-1. Right after the Cougar goal, IIT brought the ball down field and evened the match yet again. This goal came from the foot of Erin Jones, and the assist was rewarded to Julia Tatiana. After the busy first twenty three minutes, both teams battled tough on defense and no more goals would be scored in the first half. The score going into half number two would be 2-2.
The second half started off with a solid defensive effort by both ends, the offense was not as prominent. With win number one dangling in front of both squads in the final minute of the second half, the clock was ticking down as CUC had a prime chance to score, but came up short. The score would remain 2-2 and both teams setup for the overtime period.
Much of the same action kicked off overtime with both teams playing stout defense. A save by Madeline Kroll with three minutes left in the first overtime period kept the Cougars alive and forced the game into a second overtime period.
Right out of the gate, IIT threatened to end the second overtime early, but luckily for the Cougars the ball ricocheted off the top crossbar and CUC was able to clear it. After CUC regained possession they were trigger happy by being more aggressive on the offensive side of the field. Although they were all close, the Cougars could not sneak one past IIT's goalkeeper. No scores would come for the remaining time and the game would end at a 2-2 draw.
The Cougars (0-4-2) next match comes at Illinois College in Jacksonville, IL on Saturday September 16 at 5:00pm.
