Cookeville, Tenn. – Furman women's soccer rallied from a pair of second-half deficits to earn a 2-2 draw versus Tennessee Tech in Southern Conference play Sunday afternoon at Tech Soccer Field.
Facing a 2-1 deficit with under two minutes remaining, senior
Norah Roller sprinted by a defender down the right wing and played a low cross through the box. Freshman
Marlie Nagle beat her defender to the pass and touched it into the left side of the net with 1:21 left to help the Paladins earn a split of the points and remain unbeaten in league play.
"That was a gutsy effort by our players on the road against a team that swept the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago," said Paladin head coach
Andrew Burr. "We battled through the heat, overcame some mistakes, and earned a point with two very nice goals."
Furman (6-3-2, 1-0-1 SoCon) found itself in a 1-0 hole less than five minutes into the match. A long ball into the box looked to be harmless as
Ellie Herrmann screened TTU's Kayla Childs from the ball, but the striker lunged around Herrmann to poke a shot through the legs of Paladin goalkeeper
Reese DeJong at the 4:59 mark to open the scoring.
Roller leveled the match at 58:51 on her fourth goal of the season.
Sarah Sexton headed the ball into the path of Roller, who burst past a Golden Eagle defender and calmly slotted her chance into the right-hand corner to knot the match at 1-1.
Tennessee Tech (3-4-4, 0-0-2 SoCon) regained the lead in the 81
st minute off a set piece. The Golden Eagles drew a foul almost 35 yards out and Emelia Kruger laced a free kick into the right-hand corner past a diving DeJong at 80:28. The go-ahead goal came just moments after Roller was denied a go-ahead goal of her own on a scramble at the left post as her shot was saved off the goal line by a TTU defender.
Furman managed a 14-12 edge in total shot attempts and 6-5 margin in shots on goal. Fifteen corner kicks were awarded with nine going to the Paladins. DeJong totaled three saves on the afternoon while Tennessee Tech's Drew Tolley stopped four shots.
The Paladins return home next Sunday to host VMI at Stone Soccer Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Minuteman Press is the Official Sponsor of Furman Athletics press releases.
