Box Score Carlinville, ILL. -- The Principia Women's Soccer team is heading home after a hard fought win today, taking Blackburn College to double over-time.
In the first nine minutes of the game,
Rachel Perea found herself with the ball in the offensive end and crossed in a perfect ball to
Sarai Marcano who volleyed the ball into the net with poise. Blackburn responded quickly and got their first goal just a few minutes later when a shot was accidentally deflected off one of Principia's defenders into the net. Tied 1-1, Blackburn played a through ball between Principia's defense to an attacker running on who poked the ball into the net. The first half ended with a 2-1 score.
Principia headed into the second half focused on connecting passes and making dangerous offensive runs to improve their scoring opportunities. With about 15 minutes left in this nail-biting game,
Clarice Bruch moved up into an attacking position. Minutes later, Principia earned a free-kick about 40 yards out from the goal. Emelie Fredrickson played a beautiful ball into the box to Bruch who headed the ball past the keeper, making it a 2-2 game.
The teams headed into the first golden-goal over-time period which ended scoreless, but kept the crowd on their toes. Principia found their second gear and came out even harder in the second over-time period. Fighting off players in the midfield with about 2 minutes left, Madi Arens won the ball and took a shot which was deflected off a player to
Clarice Bruch. Bruch took a shot which the goalie fumbled but Bruch was there just in time to poke the ball into the net for the winning goal.
The Panthers play their last conference game of the season this Saturday in St. Louis against Fontbonne University at 1:00 pm.
