Hornets Open 2005 Season with 2-2 Tie at North Park University
September 4, 2005
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Hornets Open 2005 Season with 2-2 Tie at North Park University September 4, 2005 |
The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team opened its 2005 season on the road with a 2-2 tie at North Park University (NPU) on Sunday afternoon. The result gives the Hornets a record of 0-0-1 for the year, as the team heads into the beginning of conference play this coming Wednesday at home against Hope College (9/7 at 4:00pm).
Kalamazoo opened up the game's scoring early in the first half when junior Jenn Russart fired a long shot from about 40 yards out from the right side of the field. Initially, it looked as though NPU's goalkeeper had the shot under control, but as she came off her line to grab the ball from its first bounce, it took a strange skip and sailed over her head into the goal. Just a few minutes later, K went up 2-0 when freshman Sarah Arnosky played a great through ball behind NPU's defense for senior Megan Brady on the right flank. Brady collected the ball easily from outside the corner of the 18-yard box and hit an early shot which sailed into the upper-ninety at the far post. Kalamazoo's second goal seemed to act as a wake-up call for NPU, however, and the final minutes of the first half were played mainly in front of the Hornet goal.
In the second half, NPU almost immediately took control of the course of play. With heightened intensity, they put a lot of pressure on the Hornets and eventually out-shot K by an almost 3-1 margin for the game. Mid-way through the second half, the Vikings put themselves on the scoreboard by burying a shot that very closely resembled Brady's first-half goal. Later, with about 10 minutes remaining in regulation play, NPU scored the game-tying goal when a Viking player broke free behind Kalamazoo's defense and fired a shot past sophomore goalkeeper Monisha Berkowski.
With the game deadlocked at 2-2, the two teams entered overtime (two 10-minute sudden-victory periods). Finally, Kalamazoo began to regain the momentum it had possessed early in the first half of the game, and the shift put the Hornets in NPU's end of the field. Kalamazoo had a few decent scoring opportunities, but were called offsides on two separate occasions, giving NPU back the ball. In the end, neither team was able to break through the other's defense, and the game ended as a tie.
For the game, Russart and Brady led Kalamazoo with one goal (2 points) apiece, and Arnosky earned her first collegiate point with her assist. In goal, Berkowski put up an amazing 17 saves off 25 shots faced, including one save on a break-away and two others from almost point-blank range.