Box Score WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Senior midfielder Grace Cutler earned the equalizer in the 86th minute, but the No. 18-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team could not find the golden goal and settled for a 1-1 (2OT) draw at Purdue this evening at Folk Field.
 
After the Boilermakers (1-0-1) got on the board first in the 74th minute, the Mountaineers (0-1-2) turned up their intensity. Twelve minutes later, WVU evened the score line, capitalizing on its ninth corner kick of the match.
 
The ball was played long. Freshman forward Lizzie Mayfield sent it into the box, where sophomore forward Lauren Segalla one-timed it high to a sitting Cutler, who headed it in from four-yards out to the high right pocket for her first goal of the season.
 
Cutler's score, the sixth of her career, was the Mountaineers' first in the run-of-play this year. The assists were career firsts for Segalla and Mayfield.
 
"We continually responded tonight, and we are doing some really good things," Mountaineer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown said. "It's frustrating watching a goal get taken away from us. We need to finish a game, though, and not put ourselves in a position where we're relying on calls to go our way.
 
"I was happy to see Grace Cutler get that goal in the run-of-play. That's what seniors do."
 
Purdue got on the board first following a miscue in the defensive third. The Boilermakers earned a free kick in the 74th minute and sent the ball into the box. The Mountaineers were not able to clear, and the ball bounced off multiple players. Purdue's Sydney Duarte got a foot on the ball and redirected it near the right post toward an empty net.
 
Playing in their second straight double-overtime match, the Mountaineers finished with a 24-9 edge in shots and forced Purdue goalkeeper Katie Luce into seven saves, five in the first half. Junior Rylee Foster made four saves for WVU.
 
WVU earned 13 corner kicks to Purdue's two. Senior midfielder Nadya Gill finished with a game-high five shots, while senior defender Bianca St. Georges tallied four, including two on-goal.
 
Neither overtime produced many quality chances. Purdue earned the lone look of the first overtime, but its luster was dulled thanks to a strong defensive effort from senior Easther Mayi Kith. After turning the ball over near the midfield line, Maya Kith raced back to the defensive third and pressed Mia Roth inside the box. Foster came off her line to stuff the attempt, making her fourth stop of the game.
 
WVU tacked on a pair of corner kicks in the second, 10-minute overtime. The first nearly resulted in a brace for Cutler, as the ball was placed at the left post. Cutler headed it toward the net, and Luce caught it at the line. The Mountaineers jarred the ball out of Luce's hands while they were still raised above her head, but WVU was whistled for a foul.
 
With just over one minute remaining, a Mountaineer free kick gave St. Georges her final look of the game, as sophomore midfielder Grace Smith settled the ball at the top of the 18-yard box. St. Georges put her hard shot on-frame, but the ball sailed just above the crossbar.
 
Foster came up with two big saves in the 64th minute, catching a bouncing header by Skylurr Patrick at the line before stopping a low shot from Aly Mielke at the left post just seconds later.
 
Almost immediately, the Mountaineers flipped the field and earned a flurry of chances. Sophomore midfielder Stefany Ferrer-vanGinkel had a shot blocked by Luce near the six-yard box. With the goalkeeper out of position, Segalla pounced on the bouncing ball outside of the goal box, but her quick shot was blocked away for a corner kick. St. Georges earned a look off the corner, but her shot from high above the box was saved.
 
Six minutes before Cutler earned the equalizer, Segalla nearly did the job herself, as she corralled a cross from freshman Jordan Brewster at the left post and connected for what appeared to be a goal, but she was ultimately whistled offside.  
 
The Mountaineers earned most of the chances in the first half, outshooting the Boilermakers, 12-3, and forcing Luce into five saves. Forwards Jade Gentile and Hannah Abraham peppered Luce with three shots on-goal in the first 11 minutes. The second, a bomb from Abraham from 20-yards out in the sixth minute, looked great in the air, but Luce made the right dive to push it away at the far-left post.
 
WVU earned three corner kicks the first half, with the first in the 19th minute looking the most dangerous. After the ball was played into the box, it bounced high to a sitting St. Georges. She sent in nan immediate hard shot which nearly snuck under the crossbar before Luce jumped and pushed it out of play.
 
The Mountaineer defense denied Purdue a shot until the 35th minute, when a soft chance by Ena Sabanagic inside the box was stopped by Foster. Eight minutes later, the Boilermakers earned consecutive corner kicks in the 43rd minute. The first was futile and the second found the head of Patrick, but her header at the right post went wide.
 
With the draw, the all-time series mark moves to 3-1-2.
 
The Mountaineers return to Folk Field on Sunday, Aug. 26, for a match against No. 19 Northwestern at noon.