CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The St. Olaf College women's soccer team and Coe College played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday afternoon at Clark Field.
Coe (0-0-1) got on the board inside the first two minutes of the game via a penalty kick by Lauren Dufoe and maintained its lead until first year
Faith Yi netted a 38th-minute goal on her collegiate debut for St. Olaf (0-0-1). The Oles held a commanding 17-4 advantage in shots in the game but had to settle for a tie in its second official contest since Nov. 2, 2019.
The Kohawks took a very early 1-0 lead less than two minutes in when Dufoe sent a well-struck penalty kick into the left side of the net. The penalty was one of just two shots for Coe in the game's first 90 minutes.
A little over 15 minutes after Dufoe's goal, sophomore
Reiley Prueter nearly tied the game but saw her right-footed shot come back off the top-right corner of the crossbar. After entering the game in the 18th minute, Yi had chances in the 23rd and 36th minutes to tie the game but could not convert.
On her third chance in a 20-minute span, Yi grabbed St. Olaf's lone goal of the game, intercepting a pass in her own half, driving into the Coe box, and sliding the ball past a rushing Alex Montalbano for the tying goal.
The Oles outshot the Kohawks by an 11-2 margin in the first half and took all five of the game's shots in the second half. Senior
Kate Oehm came close to grabbing a potential late winning goal for St. Olaf but Montalbano saved Oehm's free kick from 25 yards out on the right side in the left side of the goal.
The best scoring chance of the two 10-minute overtime periods fell to senior
Grace Maxwell in the 107th minute, but her shot fell in the arms of Montalbano following a cross from Oehm on the right wing.
Senior
Brynne Davis had just two saves to make in the game for St. Olaf and both came in the first overtime period. Montalbano made six stops for Coe.
The Oles travel to UW-Stevens Point on Saturday, Sept. 4 for a 1 p.m. kickoff against the Pointers.