Arkadelphia, Ark. - Northwestern Oklahoma State Soccer traveled to take on Ouachita Baptist Saturday in the opening round of the Great American Conference tournament. Northwestern would force a 0-0 draw through two halves and double overtime before the Tigers would advance past the Red-and-Black by winning a penalty kick shootout 4-2.
"It is always disappointing to have your season end. Penalty kicks are always a lottery, so the result was unfortunate, but it was still a quality performance from our team." The Rangers head coach Alex Piekarski state following the game.
The Rangers were led in shots by Callie Haneborg with two shots on goal, followed by Natalie Leathers with one shot to the goal. Alissa Carlson, Faith Nino, Lily Anderson had the other shots for the Red-and-Black attack.
Reyna Gonzalez, the Rangers goalkeeper, finished the game by saving all nine shots she would encounter, including a penalty kick save in the middle of the match to hold the score at 0-0. This would be the second shutout of the season for the Kansas native.
"Our overall team defending was solid, and of course Reyna Gonzalez was fantastic in net-We are extremely proud of her, and she will be sorely missed next season," coach Piekarski said following the result.
The Tigers and Rangers were aggressive in the opening half. The Tigers would get the first shot off close to six minutes into the game.
The first shot on goal would be kicked in the 26th minute of the game for one of her four saves in the opening half. Jamie Fowler of Ouachita would get two more shots on goal, but the Rangers goalkeeper would save everything.
The Rangers opened up their attack, gaining possession on the last save using a goal kick to set up the offense. Northwestern would get their first shot off from Nino in the 38th minute. She would later in half get a second shot off toward the final minute of the half. Rangers would go into the break-even 0-0.
The second half started with an aggressive Rangers attack after gaining possession of the ball from the Tigers. Northwestern would take have three corner kick opportunities trying to send one to the back of the net. Ouachita's defense would prevail though setting up a scoring chance.
The Tigers would send their first corner kick opportunity of the game around five minutes into the second half. The Tigers tried setting up their attack. However, a pass from the corner would be intercepted by Gonzalez, the Rangers goaltender. The home team would receive a corner kick chance before the Tigers would take two shots on target that Gonzalez would save.
Ouachita Baptist would have the best scoring opportunity to this point of the game at the 61-minute mark as a foul inside the box set up a penalty kick try. Dotson Jayme, the Tigers attacker, would take the shot; however, Gonzalez would make the big-time save, keeping the game tied at 0-0.
After the Penalty kick save, neither team could get anything going during the half as both teams could not gain possession. The defenses would manage to force eight minutes with a shot before the Rangers ended the drought with a shot high of the net.
In the 76th minute, the Rangers would make a team defensive save to keep the game scoreless to that point in the game, followed by one in the 77th minute. Rangers gathered control of the ball with another shot on goal by Haneborg in the 81st minute, but Snow would make the save to the left side.
The game would remain 0-0 through the end of half number two, and for the second time in as many meetings, the Rangers would take #2 Ouachita Baptist to overtime.
In the first overtime, the Ouachita Baptist Tigers started with the ball before the Rangers gain some possession for a few minutes before the Tigers had a corner kick opportunity. The Rangers defense prevailed again, not letting Tigers gain control missing the chance to get a shot off.
The Tigers' first shot of overtime was on goal before a diving Gonzalez would make the save, helping send this into second overtime against the Tigers.
Rangers would start the extra time overtime with the ball trying to get an attack started, but neither team would be able to strike at any point with no offense to get any rhythm. The Tigers gave it one last chance, for Gonzalez made her ninth save of the afternoon.
The 0-0 score stood for the match draw before the game was sent to penalty kicks. Ouachita took advantage of this by winning the penalty kick shootout 4-2. The two penalty kick tries that were made were shot by Kailani Kealoha and Rachel Bailey.
The Tigers will advance to the tournament's semifinals, with the Rangers finishing the season at 0-5-2 with the draw Saturday.
"A fantastic effort and a high amount of Ranger Pride were on display today, and I am confident our best days are ahead," stated the Rangers head coach.
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