The Fresno State women’s soccer team tied 2-2 against University of Oregon in a double overtime game at the Fresno State Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium, Thursday, Aug. 22 2019.
Coming into Thursday night’s game the Bulldogs had pulled out wins against Cal Poly (2-0) and Sacramento State (2-1) in exhibition games. Fresno State hoped to continue this winning streak against the Ducks.
The Bulldogs started the game and began putting pressure on the Ducks, keeping them from leaving their own half of the field for the first 24 minutes.
The ‘Dogs would give up their first goal at the 25 minute mark. Oregon midfielder Zoe Hasenauer crossed the ball into the box where forward Jordan Wormdahl kicked from the top right side of the box over keeper Milena Zink’s head to score.
The ‘Dogs were down 1-0, but were quick to answer with a goal of their own. In the 28 minute, defender Kayla King crossed the ball off of a free kick to give defender Robyn Mccarthy a chance to head it in and tie up the game 1-1.
With the game still tied and the first half coming to a close, the Ducks pulled ahead, scoring the 2-1 goal with less than five minutes left in the first half.
The first half ended with the ‘Dogs down two goals to one, hoping to come back strong to gain the lead in the second half.
When the second half got under way, and the ‘Dogs seemed like they were losing energy and weren’t able to push the ball as well as they could in the first half.
Time was running out, and however much the Bulldogs pushed the ball or pressured the Ducks, it seemed that they were going to fall, for a third time, to Oregon.
Fresno State put the pressure on Oregon in the last minutes of regular time, keeping the ball away from the Ducks and creating more chances for themselves.
The pressure put on by the Bulldogs paid off when, with two minutes left in the game, Fresno State managed to equalize the game and send it to overtime.
The tying goal for the ‘Dogs was an own goal by the Oregon team due to the pressure put on by the Bulldogs.
The first half of overtime started, and it seemed that the ‘Dogs were having trouble advancing the ball. But the ‘Dogs were not making it easy for the Ducks either.
The Ducks were pressuring the ‘Dogs and keeping them from setting up to attack and most of the action was being played on the Fresno State side of the field.
Both teams seemed to be exhausted at this point. The time passed and neither team was able to gain the lead or momentum.
The game ended with a 2-2 tie, giving the Bulldogs their first draw of the season.
“We were of course excited by the result because it wasn’t looking good close to the end of 90 minutes,” said Fresno State head coach Brian Zwaschka, “But to keep fighting like we did and keep the danger level really high and pull one back to go to overtime, I couldn’t be prouder.”