The Utah Valley women’s soccer team lost 1-0 to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in an overtime heartbreaker Feb. 7 in Fort Myers, Florida.
The two teams were held scoreless in regulation, but sophomore forward Louise Lillback broke the deadlock in the 94th minute to give the Eagles the victory. The Wolverines had possession for most of the game and had more quality chances than the Eagles, but were never able to find the back of the net.
Junior forward Sadie Brockbank nearly got the Wolverines on the board in the second minute, but her curling shot was saved at the left post by FGCU keeper Mia Krusinski.
The Eagles had the next quality chance in the 10th minute, as the ball bounced around in the UVU 18-yard box, but FGCU were eventually ruled offside.
The next Wolverine scoring opportunity came in the 15th minute when Brockbank’s shot was saved from point-blank range by Krusinski, but the goal wouldn’t have counted because she was in an offside position.
The Eagles weren’t afraid to take any chances, as they took a number of shots from well outside the 18-yard box hoping to catch Wolverine keeper Isabel Jones-Dawe off guard, but the preseason All-WAC selection was able to make easy work of these attempts.
Freshman forward London Miller and senior defender Cassidy McCormick had scoring chances for UVU late in the first half, but Krusinski was able to save both attempts on goal.
The second half saw more even possession time but less scoring chances from both teams as they settled in defensively.
In the 56th minute, sophomore midfielder Heather Stainbrook took an aggressive shot on goal for the Wolverines from a direct free kick from about 30 yards out, but the shot curled wide left as it came in.
Miller came about as close as you can get to scoring a goal without scoring in the 74th minute, when her shot on goal deflected off of Krusinski, hit the left post, and rolled along the goal line before the Eagles were able to clear it.
FGCU finally broke the scoreless tie when junior forward Alyssa Abbondadolo connected with Lillback on a counterattack to win it for the Eagles.
For the Wolverines, they will have one more non-conference tuneup game before they begin WAC play. On Feb. 13, they will travel to El Paso, Texas to face the UTEP Miners in a game that is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. MDT.
