DePaul University
Louisville
DePaul Puts One on the Board in BIG EAST
9/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S SOCCER
Sept. 18, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Points are so precious in the BIG EAST Conference, and DePaul came away with a big one on Sunday.
Michelle Scandora's goal in the 80th minute enabled the Blue Demons to emerge with a 1-1 tie against Louisville at Cardinal Park.
This result came two days after Louisville had upset No. 12 Notre Dame, snapping the Fighting Irish's 62-game, BIG EAST Conference regular-season winning streak.
Scandora put DePaul (2-6-1, 0-1-1 in the BIG EAST) ahead with a 14-yard blast from the left side into the upper right corner for her first goal of the season.
"Rebekah Roller took a free kick and the ball bounced around behind the defense," Scandora said. "I saw it was loose and ran after it.
"Even though I'm right-footed, I had to strike it with my left foot. It was at an awkward angle, so I just wanted to put the shot on goal.
"I was really excited after it went in."
Unfortunately, the ensuing Blue Demon celebration was short-lived.
Just 13 seconds later, Louisville's Christine Exeter tied the game with a shot from 10 yards out after a cross from the right side by Erin Yenney.
"We scored a great goal, but letting Louisville back in the game almost immediately was disappointing," said DePaul coach Erin Chastain.
"However, we fought until the end and are happy we were able to salvage a point out of the weekend.
"This was a very tough task to come down and play a good Louisville team after our double-overtime loss to Cincinnati on Friday."
Yenney was also involved in the biggest play in an action-packed first half. She missed on a penalty kick in the 30th minute when DePaul goalkeeper Claire Hanold made a terrific save.
"I tried to make her wait as long as possible before taking the shot," said Hanold, who made 10 saves against the Cardinals. "I had an idea which way she was going and I dove to my left. I was able to deflect it with one hand.
"It felt like the save gave our team a lift and got us going in the right direction."
Yenney had scored the winning goal in Friday's 1-0 win.
The best chance for either team to score in the second overtime came in the 103rd minute. Kelly Blumberg rose up for a header that was saved by Louisville goalkeeper Chloe Kiefer. Rachel Pitman had a shot that was wide left in the 106th minute.
Louisville's Jordan Pawlik fired a shot with 11 seconds left that went wide right.
"There were a couple of one-on-one chances against their best forwards that I was able to stop," Hanold said. "This game shows that every team we are going to face in the BIG EAST will come ready to play.
"It's so hard to get points in the BIG EAST, and you take whatever you can get. Getting a point on the board shows we can compete with the top teams in our league."
Louisville (3-4-2, 1-0-1) took the only shot of the first overtime.
It only gets more demanding for DePaul with a 7 p.m. match on Thursday at No. 8/9 Marquette (8-2-0, 1-1-0).
NOTES: This was the second consecutive double-overtime match for DePaul in 48 hours... Louisville launched 22 shots in the match and DePaul fired off 18 shots... the Cardinals had 11 shots on goal while the Blue Demons put five on frame... Paul and Pitman led DePaul with four shots apiece and each had one shot on goal... Pitman followed up a good performance on Friday in a 1-0 loss to Cincinnati at Wish Field... Scandora took three shots with two on goal and Blumberg had three shots with one on goal... Morgan Celaya, Sarah Gorden, Kylie Nordness and Casey Mercurio each took one shot apiece.
