WKU Battles to 1-1 Draw in Home Opener Against Miami (Ohio)

Sunday, August 26

Bowling Green, Ky.

1 P.M. CT

Western Kentucky University

1-2-1

Miami (Ohio)

0-2-1

OT 3

OT 4

Miami (Ohio)

WKU

Chandler Backes and Ambere Barnett Goal Celebration

8/26/2018 4:25:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Freshman midfielder Ambere Barnett netted her third goal in the last two matches, but Miami (Ohio) answered with a strike in the second half as WKU fought to a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes with the RedHawks at the WKU Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon.

WKU (1-2-1) got a match-high seven shots from Barnett, including her goal in the 24th minute that gave the Lady Toppers a halftime lead. Roseland also stepped up offensively for WKU with five shots on the afternoon, including a couple from distance that nearly found the back of the net.

Four different freshmen earned starts for the Lady Toppers, with Bailee Witt, Lyric Schmidt, Barnett and Chelsea Moore all in the starting lineup. Victoria Mayo and Tally Bishop also made their season debuts off the bench for WKU, playing 25 and 47 minutes, respectively, in their first action of the year.

In goal, Witt played the full 110 minutes and gave up only one goal while making a pair of saves. For Miami (Ohio), Patricia Koutoulas also played the full match with eight saves while giving up Barnett's first-half strike.

Barnett started the WKU attack within the first minute of play, making a solo run through the box and firing a shot toward the upper corner that took a strong save by Koutoulas to maintain the deadlock. The RedHawks also nearly grabbed the early lead on a corner kick in the ninth minute. Set up by Jordan King's corner kick, Lydia Brosnahan's header found goal but Witt was there for the stop.

Buoyed by a flurry of corners, WKU broke through at the 23:26 mark for the 1-0 advantage. Three corners by Roseland over the preceding two minutes left the Miami defense pinned back, and Chandler Backes found space in the box to shoot. Despite a deflection by a Miami defender, the ball fell right to the feet of Barnett, who converted the chance into the top left corner for her third goal on The Hill in just four matches.

WKU had four more shots over the final 20 minutes of the first half but did not put any on goal, sending the two sides into the locker room with the Lady Toppers holding a 1-0 lead.

Both goalkeepers were tested over the first 12 minutes of the second half, with Witt and Koutoulas both making saves to keep the Lady Toppers one goal ahead. Miami found the equalizer with 63:41 on the clock off the foot of Bogdanovitch, who received a pass from Olivia Winnett in the center of the box and fired past Witt to level the match at 1-1 with just under 30 minutes left in regulation.

The best chance for either side to avoid overtime came in the 73rd minute. A Roseland corner kick set up a scrum inside the box, and a hard header from Kaylyn Bryant nearly put the Lady Toppers back in front. Following that chance, neither side was able to come up with another goal, setting up WKU's first overtime contest of the 2018 season.

Across the 20 minutes of overtime, WKU outshot Miami 7-0, including three shots on goal, but was unable to break through the stout defense of the RedHawks. A late corner kick by Miami gave the RedHawks a last chance, but the WKU defense cleared out the threat as the final whistle sounded to split the 1-1 draw.

Following Sunday's battle, WKU will remain at home for its next two contests. In their next time out, the Lady Toppers are set to take on Lipscomb next Friday evening at 6 p.m. as WKU looks to maintain its perfect series record against the Bisons; WKU holds a 6-0 record in the all-time series against Lipscomb and has allowed only two goals across those six matches, including a 2-0 win on Aug. 18, 2017, in the most recent meeting last season.