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Pointers Put Away Eagles in Overtime
by Scott Williams
Stevens Point Journal
Original Article
Box Score
Mary Donohoo was at the
scorer's table all set to give University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
soccer teammate Alyssa Souza a breather.
Instead, Souza made sure the Pointers could breathe a sigh of relief.
Souza scored 8:42 into the first overtime to give UWSP a dramatic 1-0 win
over UW-La Crosse in an early-season Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference showdown at the Pointer Soccer Bowl.
The senior forward from Madison Memorial deflected all the credit to
Melissa Becker and Kim Reese.
"We were determined to figure out their defense. It was something we had
to figure out on our own," said Souza, who was unaware of her pending
substitution. "Without Becker's run that wouldn't have happened."
Becker made an overlapping run on the outside to open up space in the
middle of the field.
That left plenty of room for Reese to thread a perfect through ball to
Souza, who outraced La Crosse stopper Khyl Sircy to the ball.
Then came the hard part - getting the ball past Eagles keeper Stephanie
Harbaugh, who was flawless in making 10 saves.
"Our other forwards told me they did the wrong thing on their shots,"
Souza said. "They said we should look to hit the corners against her (Harbaugh).
But when you're running full speed, that is hard to do."
Not this time for Souza, who picked a perfect time for her team-leading
fifth goal. She found the left corner of the net against a defenseless
Harbaugh.
The game-winner enabled the Pointers (6-1, 2-0 WIAC) to avoid a second
straight regular-season home loss to La Crosse.
Harbaugh was also threatening to hand UWSP its first shutout loss at home
in conference play.
"I was hoping this wasn't going to be a repeat of last season," said
Pointers coach Sheila Miech, referring to a 2-1 overtime loss to La
Crosse. "We couldn't finish, and it was extremely frustrating.
"But it was a neat thing to see Souza finally finish, and being a senior,
I asked her what took so long." The source of Miech's frustration
was her team's inability to bury scoring chances. Every quality chance
wound up in the hands of Harbaugh, who seemed to have magnets in her
keeper gloves. Despite dominating possession and play during the first
half, the Pointers had nothing to show for their efforts.
"When you don't finish and don't finish, the momentum of the game can
change," Miech said.
La Crosse would have been in a deep hole without the efforts of Harbaugh.
Eagles coach Sara Burton said her team failed to show up for the first
half.
"In the first half we didn't come out and play our style. We had a good
discussion at halftime," Burton said. "It was a matter of time before one
of the teams put one away." The combination of a wake-up call from their
coach and wasted Pointers chances turned the game in the Eagles' favor in
the second half.
La Crosse (5-2, 1-1 WIAC) controlled the play after intermission and had
UWSP on its heels on defense. However, several quality scoring chances
wound up wide.
"Your adrenaline is going crazy in a situation like that," UWSP defender
Molly Kreibich said. "We just try to keep each other relaxed and tell
everyone to have fun." The Eagles threw everything at the Pointers to
start the second half but were unable to get the ball past keeper Kortney
Krill, who finished with six saves.
After some late pressure in regulation, Souza finally decided enough was
enough.
"This was an example of what can happen. Everyone was on the same page at
the end," Souza said.
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