The CSUN women’s soccer team saved its best for last Friday afternoon against the Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine.
Trailing 1-0 with a little less than two minutes to play in regulation, senior midfielder Susie Mischenko scored to tie the game in the 88th minute, sending the match into sudden death overtime. Fifteen minutes and an overtime later, junior forward Carrie Faith Murphy scored in the 103rd minute to give the Matadors a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind win over the Rainbow Wahine at Matador Soccer Field.
“We never stopped,” head coach Keith West said. “We just kept going. If it wasn’t working, we just kept plugging away, plugging and plugging away.”
Hawai’i jumped ahead just before halftime, as freshman defender Nicole Mikula scored in the 44th minute on a rare occurrence, as she sent a corner kick from the right directly into the Matador net.
Undeterred, the Matadors came out firing in the second half, attempting 13 shots, but it wasn’t until the 88th minute that CSUN was finally able to get the equalizer into the net. Senior defender Rachel Gillis headed a pass to Mischenko, who then charged towards the Hawai’i box and successfully lobbed a shot past Rainbow Wahine junior goalkeeper Kori Lu, into the right corner of the net.
The Matador defense was the highlight in the two overtimes, as Hawai’i did not attempt a single shot during the extra time. Finally, in the 103rd minute, Murphy scored the golden goal for CSUN, as she took control of an errant clearance by a Hawai’i defender, charged in and shot the ball past Lu, near the left side.
“I just took it by myself and finished it in the back of the net,” Murphy said.
Both teams were aggressive on offense the entire afternoon. with CSUN out-shooting Hawai’i 23-13. Rainbow Wahine goalkeeper Lu was busy herself during the match, recording 10 saves for the afternoon. Matador sophomore goalkeeper Kellie Drenner made four saves, failing to secure the net just once.
CSUN heads back on the road this coming weekend for a pair of games against members of the West Coast Conference. The Matadors start off with a trip to San Diego to face the Toreros on Friday at 7 p.m., then travel to Malibu to face the Pepperdine Waves on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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