It took more than 110 minutes of play for the Illinois State womens soccer team to advance to the State Farm Missouri Valley Tournament semi-finals. After regulation and two overtime periods, the game was still tied, 1-1 with penalty kicks making the difference in the game.
Illinois State made all five of its penalty kick attempts to defeat SMS, 5-4 in PKs, to advance to the semi-finals. Taking PKs for the Birds were Kahlenbeck, Kanisha Campbell, Brady, Megan Boler and Joyce Kleinheinz. SMS made their first four PKs but it was the last PK by SMS that goalkeeper Andrea Shaw was able to save.
We came out and played very poor in the first half, said head coach Pete Kowall. I have no answers for what happened in the first half. I told the girls at half time that we had to come out with more effort and aggressiveness.
In the first half of play, SMS quickly took the lead with a goal by Sarah Guenther at 11:05. Guenther drove down from mid-field, through the Illinois State defense to score putting the Bears up, 1-0. SMS was able to hang on to the lead into the half and well into last minutes of the game when a bunch of Illinois State players gathered in front of the goal. Robyn Brady created a shot for herself right in front of the goal just missing and Lauren Kahlenbeck was there to head in the ball tying the game 1-1 with four minutes left to play in the game.
The end of regulation and two overtime periods became a battlefield with each team trying to score, however neither team was able to put the ball in the net, setting up for penalty kicks to determine which team would move on to the semi-finals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Tournament.
We have been playing well as a team and created a several chances to score today, said Kowall. In practice we have been working on penalty kicks and it showed.
The Illinois State womens soccer team will advance to the semi-final game on November 5 against tournament host Drake at 5 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines, Iowa.
