St. Joseph, Minn. - Today the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks traveled to Blazer Field to play the Saint Benedict Blazers in a match that ended in a bittersweet 1-1 double overtime tie for the home club. The match was the last non-conference match of the season for the Blazers. It was a good tune-up for postseason play against a Warhawk team that lasted all the way to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last year.
The Blazers got off to a quick start in this one, rifling off several quick shots before junior midfielder
Laura Kosch secured a loose ball amidst a midfield scramble and played the ball to junior forward
Colleen Bouchard. Bouchard promptly played the ball back to the top of the box where Kosch booted the ball off of Warhawk keeper Jordan Myers' hands and into the goal to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead.
For Bouchard, the assist was her eighth of the year, a career high for the junior. Bouchard's eight assists put her at second among the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) leaders.
Through the rest of the half the Blazers used several great saves by sophomore keeper
Megan Favorite to keep the Warhawks out of their net, while also almost adding another goal on several narrow misses by the Blazer forwards.
In the second half, both offenses came out rolling, there was 21 shots split 11-to-10 in favor of UW-Whitewater. Despite this offensive outcropping neither team was able to find the back of the net for the first 40 minutes.
With the Blazers still up 1-0 mid-way through the period, first-year forward Grace Vaughan was dribbling the ball forward on the Blazer half of the field when she was wrapped up and nearly bear-hugged by Warhawk sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Fritsch. Fritsch was given a yellow card on the play but remained in the game.
With time winding down and the Blazers clutching to a one goal lead late in the second half a Warhawk shot went off a defender and the ball was sitting in front of the net without a player from either team within five yards of the ball before Vaughan out-hustled several Warhawk forwards to the ball and booted it out of danger to protect the lead.
The Blazers could not hang on to the lead for much longer however. With four minutes to play in the game a Warhawk midfielder played the ball into the box where it bounced off several players and rolled towards the net. Junior midfielder
Kaitlyn Lauer went to clear the ball out of the box but unfortunately the ball was redirected off the body off Warhawk midfielder Sarah Sedlar and into the net to equalize the score and send the match into overtime.
The Blazers dominated both overtimes, outshooting the Warhawks 13-to-4 in extra time, including a shot by Bouchard that bounced off the post and out of bounds. Favorite made several tough diving saves to keep the Blazers alive, but they could not find the shot that would put them ahead.
Favorite's 15 saves on the day were key to keeping the Blazers on pace with the Warhawks on a day when their offense played very well, but just could not seem to find a way to put the ball in the net.
“We had a lot of chances that we should have finished and we just have to be better at closing games out its kind of hurt us this year,” Bouchard said after the game.
The Blazers return to action next Saturday (Oct. 20) when they travel to Saint Mary's for a 1 p.m. match.
