Sept. 28, 2007
Final Stats
Spokane, WA --- Karissa Henage has fortified her place on the backline for Idaho State. She may well have done the same on corner kicks, as she headed in Kilee Quigley's corner kick with just 5:09 remaining in the game, helping the Bengals pick up a 1-1 tie with Gonzaga in Spokane.
With the tie, the Bengals moved to 4-3-2 on the season, while Gonzaga is now 5-2-2. After a scoreless first half, Gonzaga broke through quickly as Sheridan Jones took a pass from Christine Soma and rocketed a shot than just went beyond goalkeeper Maren Eves' outstretched hands for a goal that came just 52 seconds into the second half. ISU then survived a scary few minutes immediately following as Eves watched a pair of shots ring of the crossbar and bound away harmlessly.
ISU pushed, but they could only muster two shots on goal for most of the second half, both of were handled by Gonzaga keeper Jessica Thalman. However, head coach Allison Gibson substituted some offense with 10 minutes left, getting both Jenny Ford and Crosby Joyner into the game, and they were able to force a corner kick late, which led to Henage's header for the equalizer. Neither team was able to score in the two 10-minute overtimes as the game ended in a tie.
The overtime game was the fourth straight for the Bengals in games played away from Pocatello, and it was their first tie since a 1-1 tie with Cal State Fullerton.
Gonzaga did lead in most of the statistics, outshooting ISU 19-12 although ISU did put eight on net to Gonzaga's seven. The Bulldogs had eight corner kicks to just ISU's two, and ISU had only one in regulation, but that led to the tying goal. The Bengals, after picking up that tying goal, outplayed the Zags in the overtime period, but couldn't put away the game winner.
"We definitely had the momentum in the overtime," said Gibson. "Overall, we played really well, and down late like that, we'll take that tie." On all the road overtime games, Gibson has a theory. "I really think that the hardest opponents we have played have been on the road, and so we are up, up, up. We just hang, hang, hang and by that time we have worked so hard and playing these team on the road, sometimes we just get that one chance, and by the end of the game we are trying just to get it to overtime."
The Bengals get just one day of rest, but they have a short trip south of Spokane as the Bengals head over to Pullman to take on the Washington State Cougars on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm Mountain Time. Washington State is 6-1-1 after a 3-0 win on Friday against UC Santa Barbara, and they are currently ranked #7 in the West Region.
NOTES: Henage becomes the 10th Bengal to score a goal this season ... Quigley's assist was her third, tying her for the team lead ... Maren Eves lowered her goals against average 1.04, which would be third all-time in school history ... the Bengals have yet to allow a corner kick in overtime this season ... the record for overtime games is seven, set last year.
