CEDAR CITY, Utah-- The Southern Utah University women's soccer team dropped a tightly contested overtime thriller to Colorado College 1-0 Sunday afternoon at Weidner Field.
The loss makes SUU 1-7-0 on the season while Colorado College earned its first win making its record 1-5-0.
"Our team fought and played well, " said coach Kai Edwards "We lost focus in overtime and it's my responsibility to get that fixed. We start conference play on Friday and everyone starts from zero. We will get a couple of starters back so we are excited to start."
SUU got off to a slow start as Colorado College came out with its foot on the gas. The Tigers carried the ball multiple times inside the Thunderbirds' final third but struggled early to get shots on target due to a ferocious Thunderbird defense led by Emma Leong and Delaney Peery. Both teams continued to battle, but neither was able to put its stamp on the match, sending the game into the half without a score.
SUU's offensive attack showed signs of life in the second half as it began making runs into the opponent's half. Their best chance of the match came in the 58th minute as the Thunderbirds earned a corner kick. The T-Birds set up to take the set-piece and fired a low line drive near the front post that found a crashing Leong who sent a shot just above the crossbar.
The Tigers continued to attack deep inside the Thunderbird defense firing shots on goal, but each time it looked like they would break through, sophomore goalkeeper Megan Short would drop the hammer tallying 12 saves and sending the game into overtime scoreless.
Colorado College finally broke through in the 95th minute when Kaelin Enga fired a cross into the box to a crashing Kiley Suter who sent a shot past the keeper to the bottom left corner of the net.
Sunday marked Short's third time recording double-digit saves in the last four games and the Thunderbirds' second overtime match this season.
SUU will open up conference play as they host Northern Colorado on Friday, September 24th, at 4:05 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+
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