AKRON, Ohio -- The Sycamores' youth movement was on display Friday night in Northern Ohio, but they got a pair of key assists from a crafty veteran who continues her march up the Sycamore Soccer record book as part of a hard fought 2-2 draw at Akron in front of 353 fans.
Indiana State picked up their eighth point of the season with the tie and leveled their record at 2-2-2. Akron is now 1-2-2 on the season. This was the first-ever meeting between the Sycamores and Zips and the program's first draw against a member of the Mid American Conference.
Indiana State broke through first in the match when freshman
Sidney Ewing pushed a shot past the goalie for the 1-0 advantage in the 11th minute. Senior
Katie Wells was credited with the assist which gave her 13 for her career and sole possession of third place on the ISU career chart.
Akron would tie the match in the 19th minute off a head goal from Ashley Amato which would send both teams in the half knotted at one.
The Zips came right out of the locker room with a quick goal from Hailey Claire in the 49th minute for the 2-1 cushion. This goal glanced off goal keeper
Hannah Sullivan but still found its way into the back of the net.
That's when
Danielle Varner connected on a header past the goalie in the 54th minute off a corner kick from Wells. It was Varner's first goal of her career and the assist from Wells pushed her career assist total up to 14 -- just one spot behind Sydney Lovelace for second all-time in program history. Wells became just one of 15 Sycamores all-time to record two assists in a match -- she is already one of two to have three in a match as she did it in 2016 against Chicago State. Additionally, Wells now has 40 career points which is good enough for No. 6 in the Sycamore record book -- just one point behind Kate Johnson for No. 6.
With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Akron's Lauren Lambert received a red card forcing the Zips to play a player down. Varner had a header shot in the waning moments of regulation which sailed wide and sent ISU into its second overtime match of the year.
The Sycamores went on the attack early in overtime as
Alina Steffen had a shot on goal in the 93rd minute which forced a save and then Wells continued her strong evening with a good look at the goal in the 94th minute which was wide to keep the match deadlocked at 2.
Wells had another good look at goal in the 101st minute which was saved and Steffen's shot in the 105th minute was blocked. Later in the 105th minute, Varner picked up her third shot of the match while sailed just high to keep the match tied. Akron had the final offensive attack but came up empty to end this match in a tie.
Akron owned a 15-12 edge in shots, while Indiana State owned a 4-3 cushion in shots on goal.
Danielle Varner and
Alina Steffen owned three shots while Wells and Ewing each had a pair of shots.
Katie Sidloski and
Pam Silies each had one.
Hannah Sullivan owned a save in goal for the Sycamores. For the second consecutive match, the Sycamores had a edge in corner kicks -- this time 6-3.
The Sycamores are back in action on Sunday, September 2 when they travel to Wright State for a 1 pm (ET) matchup against the Raiders. The game can be seen live worldwide on ESPN+.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Soccer team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook,
Twitter and
Instagram.
