Valparaiso began its two-match road trip on Sunday afternoon,
battling Evansville to a 1-1 double-overtime tie
at Black Beauty Field on a warm, breezy day in Evansville, Ind.
“Overall we would have loved
to get a win today, but to get a tie on the road is something for us to build
upon,” head coach John Marovich
said. “We played on Friday and had to
travel while they have been idle since last weekend, so they came in as the fresh
team today.”
The Crusaders struck first
just over 10 minutes into the contest.
Sophomore Janine Lytle
(Wooster, Ohio/Wooster H.S.) scored her first collegiate goal, poking home a
loose ball following a scramble off of a corner kick from Amanda Ulin (Solon, Iowa/Solon H.S.) at the 10:06 mark.
Evansville tied the match with 12:33 to play before
halftime. Dani Langness scored from the
middle of the six-yard box after receiving a pass from Breanna Belne.
The Purple Aces outshot Valpo
6-5 in the opening 45 minutes.
“I liked the way we came out
and played in the first half,” Marovich said.
“We really battled for the first 25-30 minutes. In the second half we had our chances in the
attacking third, unfortunately we were just a little bit off in terms of
finishing.”
The second half was all
Crusaders in terms of shot opportunities, but neither team was able to put a
shot on frame. Valpo held an 8-1 shot
edge in the period, but could not find the back of the net and the two schools
went into overtime knotted at one.
The Crusaders continued the
offensive pressure throughout the two overtime sessions, but were unable to
score the match-winning goal. Valpo
outshot Evansville
6-1 during the extra sessions, including 5-0 over the final 10 minutes, and
finished the match with a 19-8 edge in shots.
Kristen Manski
(Saint Charles, Ill./North
H.S.) made two saves for the Crusaders between the posts while Chaviel Harrison
made one stop for Evansville
(0-2-1).
Valparaiso (2-0-1) will remain on the road on Friday evening as
the Crusaders head to Fort Wayne,
Ind. to battle IPFW. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CDT.
Match Notes: This
was the second straight match Valpo scored a goal within the first 12 minutes …
Ulin’s assist was her first collegiate point … Tara Ellis (Portage, Ind./Portage H.S.) made her collegiate debut … Valpo went 1-1-1 in overtime matches
in 2009 … the last Crusader draw came against Indiana State, a 3-3 deadlock on
Oct. 9, 2009 … the 2-0-1 start in the best three-match start in program history
… Evansville now leads the all-time series 6-2-1 between the two schools.