Box Score CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – SIUE women's soccer advances to a program-first Ohio Valley Conference championship game after a 2-1 win in overtime against Morehead State, the reigning OVC tournament champion.
Despite a scoreless first half, the Cougars were able to stifle a relentless Morehead State attack which led to seven shots on goal and seven saves for junior goalkeeper Jennifer Pelley.
The Cougars were only able to record five shots and just one on goal in the first half.
"Morehead State was such a good opponent and threw everything they had at us," said Head Coach Derek Burton. "They dictated things in the first half."
The second half saw much of the same defensive pressure from both teams. It wasn't until the 75th minute that a goal was scored by Morehead State's Macy Cobb.
The Cougars continued to find several opportunities to score. A yellow card by Morehead State's goalkeeper Kaitlynn Murphy called for a penalty kick for the Cougars. Senior Michelle Auer netted the free shot in the 85th minute. The goal was Auer's ninth this season.
"Michelle is a gamer and she knows how to get it done for us," said Burton. "There was no hesitation for us when that penalty kick was called, you could see in her eyes that she wanted it."
Key saves in the last five minutes led to overtime soccer for the Cougars. The game-winner came in the 95th minute from junior Marissa Delgado, her first goal of the season. She headed the ball home from an Auer corner kick.
"That's the biggest goal of the year for us so far," said Burton. "She does a lot of work for us that doesn't always get recognized in the stats, but she certainly stepped up when it mattered most."
Pelley grabbed eight saves on the game and made some important stops against Morehead State's utilization of the flip throw-in. Auer led the team in shots with seven.
The Cougars advance to their first OVC championship game in program history. They will face the winner of the Southeast Missouri/Jacksonville State game Sunday at 1 p.m. in Cape Girardeau.
"The only thing we can do from this point is add to the history we've made this season," said Burton. "We aren't going to stop and be satisfied."
