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Photo via SHUPirates[/caption]
Seton Hall women's soccer has become no stranger to overtime this season. On a very humid Sunday in South Orange, the Pirates had to go the distance again, the end result being a 1-1 draw with Columbia.
“The fight’s there, the will’s there, the competitiveness is there," head coach Rick Stainton said. "Now it’s about just trying to solve the flow of the game.”
The Hall got on the board first in the 13th minute when Sarah Cortes put one in the lower left corner for her first goal of the season. Eight minutes after the Cortes goal, freshman Siobhan McGovern had an opportunity from close range, but the Columbia keeper was able to make the save.
As the first half progressed, Columbia got into the box on a more consistent basis than the early stages of the match. With under ten minutes left in the half, Columbia’s Natalie Neshat had a clean look at a header off of a free kick, but pushed it wide to the left.
Columbia continued to be on the attack in the early stages of the second half and it finally resulted in a goal, as Neshat was able make up for her miss earlier in the game with the equalizer in the 53rd minute.
The Pirates had a golden opportunity in the 83rd minute when Katie Landes found herself 1-on-1 with the Columbia goalie, but her shot went wide to the right.
Seton Hall was able to survive regulation and go into overtime with the score tied at one due in large part to goalie Anna MacLean. The sophomore had an outstanding day in net, tying her career-high of 14 saves.
“That’s why she’s there. That’s what we rely on,” Stainton said. “She’s done an incredible job over the year and a half that we’ve had her, she has continued to develop and now she’s become more mature and dependable. She has been everything we expect her to be.”
MacLean continued to come up big in the two overtime periods, holding the Lions in check. Neither team was able to generate many scoring chances in the overtime periods, and the match ended in a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
The Pirates will open up Big East play with a home game against St. John’s next Saturday at 2 p.m.
Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @tyler_calvaruso.
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