NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State women's soccer team tied Evansville, 1-1, in one of the most pivotal games of its season on Sunday, Oct. 26. The Redbirds (7-4-2, 3-0-1 MVC) entered the game in first place in the conference and had the Purple Aces (9-3-2, 2-1-2 MVC) right behind them. An Evansville win would have created a first place tie in the conference, but as it stands, the Redbirds remain in first place, as the Valley's only undefeated team, with two games left on their conference schedule.
It was a sunny and warm day at Adelaide Street Field, but winds at upwards of 35 mph had an effect on the play. The Redbirds controlled the pace in the first half, possessing the ball nearly the entire period, much like they did against Creighton the week before. ISU had four shots before Evansville managed its first and held a 5-2 advantage in the period. The Redbirds took the lead when freshman Alyssa Schulz brought the ball in off the left corner and passed into the middle where sophomore Ammanda Wisniewski slid past a defender and knocked the ball in from eight yards out.
The goal was Wisniewski's first since she recorded a hat trick against Central Michigan on Sept. 7 and gave her four for the season. Schulz picked up the first assist and point of her career.
Evansville took a more offensive approach at the start of the second half, pushing all 10 of their field players into the ISU half of the field and controlling the ball. The continuously played the ball deep into the Redbird zone, but were a little too zealous at times, picking up three offside calls in the first five minutes of play. The Purple Aces were plagued by offsides throughout the game with nine offenses.
They started to create some chances in the 53rd minute when Kayla Lambert took a shot from the left side the dribbled just wide of the far post. Two minutes later, Danielle Brand lofted a ball from the right side that appeared would be an easy play for sophomore Katie Grill-Donovan. The ball shifted in the wind, bounced in front of Grill-Donovan and nearly bounced over her head, but she was able to punch it out over the end line. On the ensuing corner kick, Mia Tofano got a shot off that Grill-Donovan saved. Evansville had two more shots in the next three minutes, giving them five in a five minute span.
The Purple Aces tied the game in the 70th minute on a goal that was almost identical to the Redbirds' score. Lambert took a pass on the left side, beat her defender, and played a low ball into the box that Tofano one-timed into the far side of the goal.
In the 74h minute, senior Bethany Russ had a great run to the left post and had a great look at the net, but her shot went just wide. Two minutes later, after an Evansville foul, senior Yvonne Northover played a free kick into the middle of the box that Wisniewski had a great look at, but her shot was saved by Evansville goalie Theresa Bagby. Those were the best scoring opportunity either team had to close the half and the game went into overtime.
The Redbirds had two solid chances to score in the first overtime period. Five minutes in, they had a quick breakout in the middle and Northover passed to a wide open Schulz on the left side. She tried to one-time the shot and hit it high over the goal. A minute later, Wisniewski had her third shot of the game from 10 yards out that Bagby saved again.
In the second overtime, Wisniewski had two shots back-to-back shots, but one was blocked and the other saved. Lambert had two shots for Evansville in the last two minutes, both that went wide, and the game ended in a tie.
Illinois State visits Missouri State for its final conference road game on Friday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m.
