WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's soccer team battled defending Mountain East Conference champion Notre Dame (Ohio) to a 1-1 draw Thursday afternoon at the West Liberty Soccer Complex.
After yielding an early goal, Coach Barry Christmas' Hilltoppers (0-3-1, 0-2-1) battled back to tie the match before halftime and held off a sustained second-half surge from the Falcons (2-2-1, 1-1-1) to earn the tie. Jillian Doss finished off an assist from Lytia Hart in the fourth minute to give the visitors a quick 1-0 lead. Notre Dame dominated the run of play for the first 20 minutes but Hilltopper keeper Allie Warsaw came up big with four early saves and West Liberty was able to weather the storm. The Black and Gold turned the tables on the Falcons over the final 20 minutes of the opening half, launching shot after shot at the Notre Dame net before finally breaking through with the equalizer.
Sarah Evans sent in a cross from deep in the right corner and a hustling Erica White headed it home, knotting the score at 1-1 in the 36th minute. The Hilltoppers had a couple more scoring chances later in the half but NDC keeper Louisa Rygh came through with a couple of big saves to maintain the tie heading into intermission. Thanks to its late surge, West Liberty outshot Notre Dame by a 9-6 margin in the first half but momentum changed sides again shortly after the break.
The Falcons maintained near-constant pressure on the WLU goal as the Hilltoppers bided their time in hopes of a quick counter-strike. As a result, Notre Dame had a whopping 14-3 edge in shots but Hilltopper keeper Allie Warsaw and the West Liberty back line were up to the challenge and the match went into overtime. Notre Dame's Alexis Manoa nearly broke the tie midway through the first overtime period when she hit the crossbar but the ball bounced harmlessly away. Warsaw then came up with two big saves on Manoa in the second overtime period to preserve the tie.
The visitors wound up with a 27-14 edge in shots and forced 9 corners to just one for the hosts. Warsaw finished with 12 saves while Rygh had 9 saves in net for the Falcons.
The WLU women hit the road on Sunday for a 2:30 p.m. conference match at Shepherd.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
Notre Dame 1, West Liberty 1 (2ot)
Notre Dame 1 0 0 0 – 1
West Liberty 1 0 0 0 – 1
First Half
NDC: Goal: Jillian Doss (Lytia Hart), 3:17
Second Half
No scoring
Match Statistics
Shots: Notre Dame 27, West Liberty 14
Saves: Notre Dame 9 (Louisa Rygh 9), West Liberty 12 (Allie Warsaw 12) Corners: Notre Dame 9, West Liberty 1
