The Upper Iowa women's soccer scored a goal in the 83
rd minute to tie their home and season opener against William Jewell College. The Peacocks and Cardinals played to a 1-1 tie after 110 minutes of action on Sunday in Fayette. The match was the opening contest for both squads as they moved to 0-0-1 after the non-conference decision.
William Jewell came out strong in the first half taking 14 shots at the Peacock goal, while holding the home team to just one attempt. The Cardinals' Katie Pohl rocketed a shot past the UIU goal keeper after a misplay by the defense allowed her to get in close. Pohl's goal came in the 20
th minute.
In the second half, the Peacocks picked up their intensity and executed the game plan to stay on the offensive and put pressure on the Cardinal defense. In the second half, Upper Iowa took 11 shots in the second half and earned 4 corner kicks after none in the opening frame. With seven and a half minutes to play in the game, UIU's
Facienne Graham crossed a ball into the box. After the keeper couldn't gather it up, freshman
Aimee Kemper found herself with the ball on her foot in front of the net. Kemper knocked it in for her first collegiate goal and pulled the home team even.
The game went through a pair of overtimes without a score by either team. UIU took seven shots in the extra twenty minutes, while WJC took three shots.
Both goal keepers made impressive saves in net with
Natalie Rudrud recording 10 saves for UIU, while Kaylie Kappelmann stopped 7 shots for William Jewell.
TURNING POINT... Trailing 1-0 late in the game, Graham and
Jessica Kron pushed the ball into the nearside corner for Upper Iowa. Graham crossed the ball into the box and WJC's Kappelmann came off her line to gather in the pass. Kappelmann couldn't come up with the catch cleanly and the ball spilled out to the feet of Kemper. The freshman slid to her left with the ball and then punched it into the back of the net to tie the score at 1-1 with seven and a half minutes to play.
PEACOCKS OF THE GAME...
STAT OF THE GAME... The Peacocks were definitely aggressive in the game committing 15 fouls in the match compared to just 6 for the Cardinals, but the intensity paid off as the momentum turned in their favor during the second half. UIU outshot WJC 18-9 after the opening half.
QUOTABLE(S)...
"It was a good performance today. At halftime i thought we had played well in the first half, but we needed to put more pressure on their goalkeeper. I challenged the team to get more crosses and more shots in the second half and get pressure on the keeper to make decisions. I thought we executed the plan well in the second half and deserved to get the equalizer. We increased our intensity in the final third; Faci (Graham), in particular, did a good job earning corners and throwing crosses in."
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James Price, Head Soccer Coach
UP NEXT...
Upper Iowa will host a tournament next weekend on Friday and Sunday, Sept. 13 and 15. The Peacocks will take the pitch against Davenport University on Friday at 5:30 p.m. following the first match of the day between Concordia University, St. Paul and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside at 3 p.m. On Sunday, Concordia-St. Paul and Davenport will get together at 12 p.m. followed by the Peacocks taking on the Rangers of UW-Parkside at 2:30 p.m.
