Racers Endure Overtime Defeat in Season Opener

Thursday, August 22

Cutchin Field

2 P.M.

Murray State

0-0-0, 0-0-0

Xavier

0-0-0, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Xavier	1	2	0	1	4
Murray St.	3	0	0	0	3

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

8/22/2019 10:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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After thunderstorms delayed the start of the new campaign, Murray State women's soccer would make their 2019 regular season debut on Thursday evening as they hosted Xavier in a non-conference match at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky. Despite three goals from an explosive Racer attack, Murray State fell to the Musketeers in heartbreaking fashion in double overtime – 4-3 would be the final after nearly 110 minutes of action.

MSU would open the scoring when Abby Jones netted the first goal of the season off a pass from Rebecca Kubin in the 19^th minute.

With the Racers clinging to a 1-0 lead, the match would come level just a few minutes later when Samantha Dewey knotted the game in the 21^st minute for the Musketeers.

As both teams traded a good share of the possession in a fast-paced first half, the Racers quickly regained the lead when 2018 All-OVC 1^st Team selection Miyah Watford gained control of the ball in Xavier's penalty area and neatly tucked it in the bottom corner to give her side a 2-1 advantage with nearly 24 minutes gone in the contest.

The Racers closed the first half of play firing on all cylinders when Rebecca Kubin received a ball from Elizabeth Tilton and put away the third MSU goal of the afternoon to widen the margin to 3-1 as they entered the break.

Xavier would take back some of the momentum when they cut the Racer lead to just one early in the second half as Samantha Dewey slipped past the defensive line to score her second goal of the match off a pass from Emily Burton to make the score 3-2.

As both teams continued to fight a physical battle throughout the midfield, the game would not see its next goal until the 64^th minute when Dewey completed her hat-trick to bring the game level – tying the score for the first time since the 21^st minute of the competition.

Murray State saw a promising opportunity to tally the winner in the final five minutes of regulation as Watford fired a shot from within the Xavier penalty area, but the strike would sail just over the crossbar, leaving the match even at 3-3 and forcing overtime to decide the winner.

After a scoreless first period of overtime saw both sides record a pair of shots in the attack, the game would not be separated until the final minute of double overtime when a Xavier corner kick produced the game-winning goal as Samantha Dewey capped her outstanding performance with a headed goal to give her side a 4-3 victory after 109 minutes of play.

"The things we dealt with in the first half we let slip in the second half, and that's how they scored their goals. We have to clean that stuff up, but I'm proud of our grit and determination," said MSU head coach Matt Lodge.

Possession was split at an even 50/50 between the two teams, while the Racers were able to record 17 shots (nine on target) to open regular season competition.

Freshman goalkeeper Jenna Villacres made 11 saves between the posts for Murray State.

The Racers will return to action on Sunday when they travel to Birmingham, Alabama to take on the Bulldogs of Samford University. Kickoff is slated for 2:00 p.m.