Islanders Stay Unbeaten at Home With SLU Draw

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's night ended in a draw for the second time this season after the hosting Islanders came to a scoreless finish with the visiting Southeastern Louisiana Lions.

The Islanders tested the SLU keeper early on Friday night with a pair of shots on goal in the opening 16 minutes, but after Emily Keoughan and Siri O'Donnell's attempts were denied, the tide began to turn as the Lions took another six shots over the course of the first half. Blue and Green keeper Jordan Wright made her third start of the season, with all three of her starts coming at home in Dugan Stadium in 2017. Despite not seeing playing time since September 10th, the senior goalie looked sharp throughout. Wainwright made four big saves against SLU in the opening half, including a diving stop in the 36th minute, to deny Lion's forward Amber Marino from scoring her third goal of the year.

The Blue and Green would play at a higher level come the second half, registering multiple chances from start to finish. The Islanders controlled the pace of play through the majority of the latter 45, despite outshooting the Lions by just a single shot in the period. Freshman Addison Urbanus had one of the premier Blue and Green chances of the night, after the freshman received a deflected ball at the top of the 18, and sent a left-footed shot trailing less than a meter to the left of the SLU goalpost. Despite a lack of dead ball opportunities, the hosting Islanders would find other ways of creating chances on set pieces. Head Coach Craig Shaw and company used the impressive throwing ability of Alexis Urch to improve their scoring probabilities, with the redshirt-junior launching numerous throw-ins from the sidelines straight across the face of goal. 

None of the Islanders opportunities would come to fruition however, and after shots from Kayla Gove and leading goal-scorer Katie Lawrence resulted in saves from the SLU goalie, the Blue and Green would be forced to go to overtime for the third time this season. In their first Southland overtime match of 2017, neither side produced a wealth of opportunities in extra minutes, as the two clubs totaled four shots over two 10-minute overtime periods and just a lone delivery reaching frame.

As the Islanders leader in shots taken this year (17), forward Kaitlyn Joy registered her first attempt on net in the match's second overtime period as her strike drove right of goal with just 10 seconds left. The evening's 0-0 result is the Blue and Green's second of the year, and its first ever tied result against the Lions. The two club's all-time series sits at 1-1-1 inside of Dugan Stadium after Friday's exchange, as the Islanders move to a 1-2-1 record in the SLC this season.

• Jordan Wainwright has allowed just a single goal against in her three matches this season, helping the Islanders to go 1-0-2 at home in 2017
• Wainwright's eight saves on the evening are one short of an individual best for an Islander keeper this season. The senior set that mark earlier this season with a nine-stop performance against UTRGV
• Andi Bethard played a season-high 46 minutes coming off the bench, while forward Katie Seabolt made her first appearance of the season with eight minutes of playing time
• Urbanus made the fourth start of her career against the Lions, and has made the starting 11 in each of the Islanders matches since competing at PVAMU on September 17th
• With Friday's shutout the Islanders are one clean sheet away from tying a program single season record at five
• Not including Wainwright, O'Donnell and Urch were the only two Islanders to play all 110 minutes of their match with SLU
• The Blue and Green have never played more than four overtime contests in a single season, the club already has three this year with seven regular season matches remaining
• The Islanders are seventh in the SLC after Friday's result, but after losses from McNeese and Sam Houston State, they sit just two matches outside a tie for first place in the conference

COMING UP NEXT
The Islanders look on to Nicholls this coming Sunday, as the Colonels enter the contest with a 1-3 record in SLC play and will try to rebound from a 4-0 shutout loss at Houston Baptist. The Blue and Green are 0-4 against the Colonels all-time, but will try to tie a program-best with its fifth victory of the season at 1 p.m. on October 1st.

STAY SOCIAL
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