SMSU SOCCER: Mustangs drop home opener in overtime
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MARSHALL -- After earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Black Hills State last week, the Southwest Minnesota State University soccer team looked to keep its momentum going in its home opener against Missouri Western State University on Sunday. The Mustangs and Griffons battled through regulation without a goal, forcing things to be settled in overtime. The two teams were close to having to play a second 10-minute session, but a goal by MWSU in the final minutes of the first overtime period ended up being the lone score of the afternoon in a 1-0 final.
Despite the tough ending, SMSU coach Erin Kasmarik-Mallett said she was pleased with how they played throughout the afternoon and there were a lot of positives as well as things to learn from.
"It's always a heartbreaker when you lose in overtime, there's no getting around that, and this will be another thing our young team kind of needs to experience," Kasmarik-Mallett said. "You want to do two things: you want to remember how this feels so that we make sure it doesn't happen again but then also learn from it. We were really pleased with how we played and how we adjusted and there were way more positive things than negative, but the negative thing happens to be the last thing that we experienced and we'll have to deal with that and move forward."
The Mustangs had several chances to find the back of the net in the first half, but weren't able to capitalize. The back-and-forth play continued in the second half, with both sides getting some quality opportunities, but the defense and goalkeeper play stayed strong, as the two teams headed into overtime still deadlocked at 0-0.
In the overtime session, MWSU would strike first when Eszter Toth got a shot from roughly 30 yards out just past the outstretched gloves of Meghan Harkin with 1:11 to go.
SMSU was outshot 13-9 on the game, including a 7-3 advantage in shots on net for the Griffons. Harkin had six saves for SMSU while Alex Lotts led offensively with three total shots, including one on net.
Up next
SMSU (1-1) will hit the road next weekend, taking on Upper Iowa University in its conference opener on Friday at 2 p.m. before facing Winona State University on Sunday at 1 p.m.