CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 19 – Visiting Big Sky leader Montana (9-5-2, 5-0-2 Big Sky) scored in the opening minutes and added a second goal early in the second half to claim a 2-0 advantage against Southern Utah (6-5-3, 3-2-2 Big Sky) on Sunday. The Thunderbirds battled back late in the game as freshman Abbie Flandro and junior Nancy Brich each found the back of the net to help SUU earn a 2-2 draw.
“I think our team as showed a lot of character,” stated SUU head coach Becky Hogan. “On Friday you saw us with a lot of mixed emotions. We were overconfident and then panicked, where today we were more level.”
Montana got on the board less than three minutes in when Tyler Adair connected with Hallie Widner for a goal to put the visitors in front. The count remained 1-0 until early in the second period the Mackenzie Akins was able to come up with a loose ball on the left side of the box and fire in a shot to make it a two-score advantage.
Southern Utah answered a few minutes later when Flandro saw an opening from outside the box and blasted a shot that snuck just under the crossbar to put the Thunderbirds on the board. She then helped set up the equalizer in the 64th minute as she sent a cross into the box where sophomore Logan Harker headed it to the feet of Nancy Brich near the right post. The junior forward tucked in a shot for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
The two teams battled through a pair of overtime periods, with neither side able to break the stalemate. Montana appeared to have an open look at the goal in the 93rd minute, but senior defender Andrea Albrecht made a sliding save to clear the ball off the line.
“We have been a second half team, and it came back to us, which was nice,” commented Hogan. “That is a really hard hole to dig out of. You are playing the best team in the conference, they're undefeated, they have you on the ropes 2-0, how easy would it have been to collapse. But, I don't think anybody thought that was going to happen. That shows the poise of our team and the fact that we believe in what we are doing and each other.”
Flandro notched her fourth goal of the year to move up to the top of Southern Utah's scoring leaders with 12 total points. She also shares the team lead with Harker in assists as both players have recorded four this season.
The T-Birds play their final three matches on the road starting with visits to Idaho State and Weber State this coming Friday and Sunday. Coverage of SUU soccer is available at www.suutbirds.com.
