Sept. 4, 2009
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -
San Diego State-Harvard Final Box in PDF Format
The San Diego State women's soccer team opened its two-game road trip with a hard-fought 1-1 tie at 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Harvard Friday afternoon in Cambridge, Mass.
The Aztecs (2-2-1), who played their first overtime game of the season, and Crimson (0-0-1) played to a scoreless first half after both teams displayed excellent effort on the defensive side of the ball. SDSU had two shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes, one from Megan Jurado and the other from Gretel Amman.
Jurado's opportunity came at 18:34 when she picked up a loose ball in front and put it on goal, only to have Harvard goalkeeper Lauren Mann record the save. Then in the 40th minute, Amman made her way through the Crimson defense, but had Mann waiting for her attempt. Like San Diego State, Harvard had two shots on goal, but was denied on both occasions by goalie Aubree Southwick.
Nearly two minutes into the second half, the Crimson dented the scoreboard after Caroline Alabanese scored her first of the season. On the receiving end of pass from Katherine Sheeleigh, Alabanese dribbled the ball into the box snuck a shot past a diving Southwick at 46:41.
Following the Harvard goal, San Diego State went on the offensive beginning in the 51st minute. Cat Walker blasted a shot that hit the cross bar, SDSU earned a pair of corner kicks, Tiffany Hurst had a shot go high, Heather Vandevanter had her attempt blocked and the Aztecs finished their six-minute attack with another corner kick by Jessica Gordon.
Two-and-half-minutes later, Gordon was presented with another corner-kick opportunity and this time she found defender Allie Crowson, who headed the ball into the net for her first career goal (59:55) to knot the score at 1 apiece. The assist was Gordon's team-leading third of the year.
The Aztecs continued to put pressure on the Harvard defense as they outshot the home squad, 8-2, the rest of regulation. SDSU's eighth shot came off a free kick on the left side. When the ball came close the box, Millie Allen put a foot on it, only to have it hit off the post with three seconds left before bonus soccer would ensue.
Harvard finished the first 10-minute extra session with a 3-0 advantage in shots, but San Diego State regained its form in the second overtime stanza and outshot the Crimson, 6-0. The Aztecs positioned themselves to score on numerous occasions in the second OT, but none more so than in the 105th minute.
Walker, who had a shot blocked at 103:36, responded not a minute later when she blasted a shot from just inside the box that ricocheted off the left post. The junior later had one of her game-high tying seven shots stopped by Mann with less than two minutes remaining. As time expired, Allen made a last-ditch effort to score the game winner, but was off the mark.
At the end of the day, San Diego State finished with an advantage in shots (24-17) and corner kicks (7-3) for the fourth time in five matches this season.
Walker led the team with seven shots, with Jurado following closely behind with four of her own. With her scoring header, Crowson became the sixth different Aztec to put one past the opposition's goalkeeper. Southwick, meanwhile, finished the 110-minute contest with five saves.
SDSU returns to the field on Sunday, Sept. 6, when it plays at Dartmouth beginning at 11 a.m. ET.