Blank's Header Leads To Draw
September 14, 2008 04:52 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
September 14, 2008
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 14th-ranked West Virginia University women’s soccer team played to a 1-1 double overtime draw with James Madison Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Junior Carolyn Blank notched the game-tying score in the 77th minute on her second goal of the season. Forward Erica Henderson served a ball from the right sideline to forward Stephanie Burgess. The senior one-timed a pass that found Blank in the air for the header.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, the Dukes scored less than a minute into the second half on a goal from forward Cate Tisinger. With the Mountaineer defense pulling forward, Julien Corky sent a ball through the middle to a streaking Tisinger. Tisinger was left one-on-one with WVU goalkeeper Kerri Butler and found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
“JMU is a good team and will have some success as the season continues,” said Head Coach Izzo-Brown. “Whether it was offsides or not doesn’t matter. There are things we can control in every game and there are things we cannot control in every game. The problem is we had many more scoring chances today but did not finish.”
West Virginia has out-shot its opponent in every contest this season, including a 25-8 advantage over JMU this afternoon. Blank led all players with a career-high eight shots.
The Mountaineers had several scoring chances throughout the day and perhaps none more dangerous than two attempts in the second overtime.
West Virginia had a goal waived off midway through the second overtime when Blank again found the back of the net on a header. The senior was offsides, however, when taking a flick inside the box.
“It’s hard when any goal is waived off but we have to look at the tape,” said Izzo-Brown. “It was a great effort by Carolyn on both headers.”
WVU forward Blake Miller nearly ended the match with 3:23 left in the second overtime. The true freshman fired a shot from 13-yards out that hit off the left post and back into play.
James Madison’s goal at 45:54 marked the first time West Virginia had trailed all season long.
Six different Mountaineers came off the bench to provide valuable minutes in the tie. Freshman Meghan Lewis led all substitutes with 48 minutes played, two shy of her career-high.
“It hurt us that JMU didn’t play this week until now,” said Izzo-Brown when asked about using her bench. “Our legs were a little heavy from Thursday night’s game but that is going to happen. We had to rotate a lot of people in with the heat, too.”
Butler finished with three saves with the Mountaineer defense limiting JMU to four shots on-goal.
West Virginia, playing in its third overtime contest of the season today, moves to 4-1-2 while JMU goes to 2-2-2 on the year.
The Mountaineers return to action with their third straight home match, Thursday, Sept. 18, against Pitt in the BIG EAST opener for both teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
