Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Missouri
Wildcats Fall to Missouri in OT, 2-1
8/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 27, 2004
NU-Missouri Box Score in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's soccer team gave a gallant effort in Friday afternoon's season opener at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex. However, the 'Cats slipped less than three minutes into overtime, and the result was a penalty kick that Missouri converted to gain a 2-1 win.
Despite the loss, NU head coach Jenny Haigh was upbeat following the contest.
"I feel optimistic," she said. "If we have that kind of effort every time out we are going to get a lot better. We competed. There are a few things we need to tweak and re-tool, but we are in a good place.
"Missouri is a good team; they forced us to make some adjustments, but we made them and continued to play well," she continued. "I saw a lot of good things out there today."
After an opening surge, NU fell back and went on the defensive for a long stretch. Goalkeeper Whitney Jones was called upon twice around the 18-minute mark to make nice saves, and in the 19th minute she was able to push a shot off the crossbar. The ball fell to Missouri's Jennifer Nobis, however, and she easily pushed it into the open goal.
That score stood until the ninth minute of the second half. At that point, Wildcat freshman Kelsey Hans -- Minnesota's High School Player of the Year last fall -- picked off a Tiger pass deep in the offensive zone. Left alone inside the box, she moved in from the left side and calmly slid a ball past Missouri's onrushing keeper, Laura Buehrig, to knot things at 1-1.
"Kelsey is good, she will be an impact player here," said Haigh. "She plays well in the offensive third, and can make things happen when not much is there. She did well today, especially on her goal."
Missouri seemed to have a few decent chances in the final 20 minutes, most notably with 10 minutes left when Melissa Peabody beat the NU defense and was able to get in one-on-one with Jones with Wildcat defender Beth Martin on her back. Jones did well to force Peabody to play the ball wide, and though Peabody got past the NU keeper she could not catch up to it in time to slide it into the open goal. Martin, meanwhile, also caught up to force Peabody away from goal.
However, there was no such luck in the third minute of overtime. Another long ball was played into the NU box that was battled for by Jones, a Missouri attacker and a Wildcat defender. The ball skipped away as the Tiger forward fell to the ground, and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Karen Bauer converted past Jones' left side to end the match.
Northwestern is back in action Sunday afternoon, hosting Colorado College at noon.
MATCH SUMMARY
Score by Half
Missouri (1-0-0) 1 0 1 - 2
Northwestern (0-0-0) 0 1 0 - 1
Goal Summary
MIZZOU - Jennifer Nobis (unassisted), 18:24
NU - Kelsey Hans (unassisted), 54:02
MIZZOU - Karen Bauer (penalty kick), 92:51
Shots: Missouri 17, NU 8
Corner Kicks: Missouri 7, NU 4
Fouls: Missouri 14, NU 12
GK Saves: NU - Whitney Jones 6; MIZZOU - Laura Buehrig 4
