ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - For 78 minutes, neither team had produced anything even remotely threatening, so it was a lock that this dreary women's soccer game between Bard and Purchase was going to overtime.
That turned out to be half right. The game went into overtime, and it was anything but dreary.
Junior
Mady Calhoun ran onto a bobbled rebound and chested it over the goal line three minutes and 19 seconds into overtime to lift the Raptors to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Purchase. The golden goal provided a surprising end to a game that looked like a scoreless tie from the first whistle.
The madness began when Purchase freshman Leah Woods (Saratoga Springs, NY) took off down the left wing after a long pass from the back. As the ball rolled toward the left corner of the box, Bard keeper
Lily Harris ran out there to try to grab it before Woods could get a foot on it. Woods beat her to the spot, however, touched the ball to her left as Harris went sliding by, and hit a lefty shot that made it over the goal line just before a Bard defender arrived to try and clear it.
It was a stunner because at the point in the game, Bard had a 9-0 edge in shots. Now it was 9-1 in shots and the Raptors were down 1-0 in the 79th minute.
At that point, the Raptors suddenly came alive. Although they were missing three starters to injury, the Raptors picked up the intensity and created immediate pressure. Just three minutes after Purchase had gone ahead, Bard tied it when a well-placed corner kick from freshman
Emily Weisman was headed in by freshman
Avalon Qian at the far post. So it was 1-1 with less than nine minutes left.
Bard capitalized on the only opportunity to score for either team in overtime. Weisman took a free kick from 25 yards to the left of the penalty area and hit a high shot that looked like it had a chance to go over the head of Purchase keeper Briana Leon (Glen Cove, NY) and in. Leon got both hands on the wet ball, but it popped straight up in the air and she lost track of it. A swarm of Bard players descended on the area and Calhoun ran the ball into the goal with her chest as it came down.
Total shots in the game were 13-3 in favor of Bard. Harris made one save and Leon made three.
Bard (4-4-1) next begins Liberty League play at Union College on Saturday at 2. Follow it here via Live Stats if you can't make it.
