SAN ANTONIO – Yvette Franco scored her second goal of the season in the first half, but a late goal by Incarnate Word forced the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's soccer team to settle for a 1-1 tie on Friday night at Benson Stadium.
Megan Delaney made six saves for the Islanders (2-5-3, 1-3-1 Southland) in net, while Heather Kowalik tallied a pair of saves as well for UIW (1-10-1, 1-3-1).
"We had a solid first half tonight after we settled down," head coach Shanna Caldwell said. "We were able to score a great goal by executing a nice service from the flank and crashing the goal. I thought we had good momentum going into halftime up 1-0.
"The second half we were creating some more opportunities that we just couldn't get on the end of," she added, "and then we had some costly letdowns as a defensive whole. Giving up the goal was costly obviously, as we had a chance to get a win on the road. We fought hard throughout overtime which was nice to see us still hustling. Now we head back home, and it's time to shift gears to Lamar."
Early on, A&M-Corpus Christi maintained strong pressure, earning three corners in the first seven minutes. But UIW came back, and Amanda Watkins delivered a beautiful bending ball toward the left corner, but Delaney made a diving stop to keep the home squad off the scoreboard. Incarnate Word also sent a header off the crossbar in the 15th minute.
But the Islanders came right back, and struck first with Franco's goal in the 21st minute. The play was started on a brilliant ball up the left side by Jacey Love that found a streaking Hailey Sutton heading toward the left corner. Sutton sent a cross to the middle of the box, and Franco flicked a header into the right side of the goal for her second tally of the season at 20:28.
From there, the remainder of the half was somewhat uneventful, with neither squad mounting any significant challenges.
The Islanders held strong for most of the second half, limiting UIW to shots from long distance. But in the 82nd, one of those turned into a tally, as Jazma Latu's shot from distance carried just out of the reach of Delaney at 81:50 to equalize the game 1-1. In the closing minutes of regulation, A&M-Corpus Christi had several strong chances, but couldn't find the back of the net as the game headed to OT.
In the first OT, neither team was able to mount much of a charge, but in the second OT both squads had opportunities. The Islanders held the edge in play for the period, but UIW had the closest chance, as a wild scrum ended with Delaney knocking the ball out of bounds over the end line to preserve the tie.
The Islanders return to the pitch on Sunday when they play host to Lamar in another crucial conference contest. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Dugan Soccer and Track Stadium. Kids wearing their youth soccer jerseys will be admitted for just $2 as part of the Youth Day festivities.
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