Women’s Soccer misses opportunities in draw with Redlands

Women’s Soccer misses opportunities in draw with Redlands

LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne women's soccer team battled back from two separate deficits against the defending SCIAC Postseason Champion Redlands and put all kinds of pressure on the Bulldogs late.

But the Leopards missed on some very good chances late in the second half and in overtime to settle for a 2-2 draw on Saturday night at Ortmayer Stadium.

La Verne moves to 5-3-3 overall and 3-2-1 in SCIAC play. Redlands is now 5-1-2 and 4-1-1.

The best chance came in the 98th minute when Jessica Hernandez won a penalty kick for La Verne after being brought down by Sam Keary six yards away from the goal. Maribel Duran stepped up to take the kick, but her effort was saved by Redlands goalkeeper Lexi Felix.

In the 107th minute, Cassidy Schweiger was set up for a 1-on-1 against the goalie near the six-yard box on a cross from Kelsea Varner, but could not quite put the laces on the ball and missed left.

The Bulldogs grabbed the early advantage on a rocket of a shot by Summer Norquist in the 21st minute and controlled the play in the first half.

But the Leopards came out of the break with a renewed purpose and struck back just a minute and a half into the second half. Varner made a good run down the right side, found Hernandez in the box and Hernadez flicked it to Alexa Smith, who made a run in from the left wing and rolled one in past Felix.

La Verne was caught sleeping eight minutes later when it allowed Savannah Laursen a big pocket of space in near the edge of the penalty box. Laursen took advantage of the real estate and fired a shot to lower right corner to give the lead back to the Bulldogs.

Despite going down again, the Leopards kept up the pressure and found another equalizer in the 65th minute as Amaris Sherlock found a loose ball in a mad scramble off a corner kick and squeezed one in.

La Verne wrestled the control of the game from Redlands after the equalizer and had a great chance at a winner in the 73rd minute. Varner made another one of her trademark runs on the right wing, cut into the box and pulled back a perfect pass to Tatiana Raygoza, who was making a run up the middle. But Raygoza put just a little too much on her shot and rattled the bottom of the crossbar.

The Leopards registered a whopping nine shots in two overtime periods while holding the Bulldogs to just one attempt and outshot Redlands, 17-10, on the game.

Hernandez got off a game high four shots, including a chip shot just after the start of the first overtime that was cleared at the line by a Redlands defender.

Jasmine Valadez made three saves for La Verne and Felix had four for Redlands.

La Verne returns to action on Wednesday when it travels to Cal Lutheran. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.