Fresno Pacific women's soccer defeated Southern Oregon University 1-0 in overtime Friday evening in Ashland, Oregon. The Sunbirds battled the Raiders to a scoreless 90 minutes of regulation play before FPU senior forward Ashley Sherr scored the game winning golden goal in the 97th minute off an Ida Rodriguez assist.
FPU started the match strong and put SOU under immediate pressure. The Sunbirds tallied six shots in the opening 15 minutes.
No to be outdone, the Raiders were able to mount their own attack and created scoring chances as the half progressed, eventually outshooting Fresno Pacific 8 to 6 in the period.
To open the second half, the Sunbirds played with more purpose and determination and outshot SOU 9 to 5 in the period. FPU created a number of scoring chances, but were unable to capitalize.
Fresno Pacific continued to control the match going into extra play and outshot SOU 2-0 before the game winning goal.
Southern Oregon goalkeeper Jessica Kuehlwein turned away a shot by FPU's Ida Rodriguez with 7:20 left to play in the first overtime period, but four minutes later, Rodriguez found Sherr to put the match away and give FPU their first win of the season.
“We were really pleased with our defensive effort today in that we were able to post the shutout,” commended FPU head coach Erik Farfan.
“Our back line did a great job, especially in the second half and overtime, and our keeper Catherine Michaelis had a solid game,' Farfan added. "With that said, we still need to find a way to score earlier and separate ourselves from our opponents sooner than later. Regardless, we are happy with the result.”
Fresno Pacific improves to 1-1 overall and Southern Oregon dropped to 1-4-1.
