Oct. 9, 2005
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Overtime proved to be the nemesis of the Vikings on Sunday as Meredith Buemi scored just 2:09 into overtime to give Butler a 2-1 win over Cleveland State on Sunday at Krenzler Field.
The match was the tail end of a soccer doubleheader at Krenzler Field that also featured a 2-1 overtime loss by the Viking men's team to UIC.
The game-winning goal came suddenly. With both teams settling into overtime play, Buemi appeared to be marked well as she made a long run down the left sideline, only to burst around the corner and head directly for the net. When Viking netminder Erin Withrow broke towards her, Buemi stopped and placed a shot past her to end the contest.
"We didn't deal very well with the team speed of Butler today," head coach Derrek Falor said. "They penetrated well at midfield all afternoon and got us turned around defensively. We ended up chasing too much on defense. That's exactly what happened on that last goal."
In a season that has seen many firsts for the second-year Viking women's soccer program, the loss added another first to the list as it was the first time in school history that a match went overtime.
"It is hard to look at an 0-2 weekend and be happy about it, but we have done a nice job lately of consistently putting ourselves in a position to win games," Falor said. "It is good to see that we are continuing to show improvement as the season progresses.
"In three of our four league matches this year, we have done a remarkable job of closing the gap between from our level of play last year to this year. We lost to Butler by six goals last year and to Detroit by 13 but played both teams pretty evenly this weekend."
The Vikings opened up the scoring at the 17:53 mark of the first half when freshman Abbie Kakias knocked a shot home from 20 yards out on the left wing. Jennifer Wieand had fed Kakias down the left wing with Kakias taking several dribbles before sending a cross over the middle. Amber Rasmussen played to the ball, drawing the attention of Butler goalie Kirby Zwickel, and the cross bounced high over the duo and into the net.
Butler would score the equalizer in the 43rd minute when Crystal Wright sent a free kick from 40 yards out into the penalty area and Ashley Twehues headed the cross past Withrow.
The second half was scoreless even though Butler had an 11-4 shot advantage. Withrow, who faced 24 shots during the contest, recorded 11 saves for her fourth double figure save total of the season.
"Erin is very much like the rest of the team," Falor said. "She made several saves today that she wasn't making earlier in the year and that helped to keep the match close. She couldn't have played the two Butler goals any better. Her hands were tied."
The Vikings will take a week off from conference play, returning to the field on Saturday (Oct. 15) when they play their final non-conference match of the season against Southern Utah beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.
