(Posted September 1, 2005)

Juniata 1, LaRoche 1

Huntingdon, Pa. ? The Juniata College women?s soccer team played well enough to win in its 2005 season opener, but the Eagles were happy to settle for a 1-1 draw against visiting LaRoche College Thursday afternoon in Huntingdon. The match was the season opener for both teams.

After a scoreless first half, in which Juniata had the lion?s share of the chances, the Blue and Gold broke through early in the second stanza. Stephanie Mury (Verona/Verona, N.J.) played a ball forward to Alicia Walsh (Latrobe/Latrobe) who took one touch and fired a ball under the crossbar to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

LaRoche began looking for the answer nearly immediately as they forced Eagles keeper Lisa Russo (Lakeland/Haskell, N.J.) to make several saves.

Russo made four saves in the second half as she helped Juniata maintain the lead.

The pressure from LaRoche intensified with the visitors breaking through with just more than three minutes remaining. Kara Dragone played a long ball into the box that Russo couldn?t control and Kim Verghies knocked the loose ball into the net to tie the score at one. Neither team mounted a serious threat in the final three minutes as the game went into overtime.

LaRoche controlled the first overtime period as they drew a corner kick, and forced Russo into another save off a shot from Verghies. Juniata?s defense was up to the task and held off the attack.

The second overtime saw Juniata get the better chances. A free kick from Nikki McLellan (Parkland/Lake Forest, Ca.) sailed just over the bar two minutes into the final session. Then with less than a minute remaining the Eagles earned a pair of corner kicks, but could not get the ball on net as time expired.

Russo finished the match with nine saves, while her LaRoche counterpart Amanda Staub recorded six saves.

Juniata will return to action on Saturday when they play a first-round match at the Penn State-Behrend Tournament.

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For more information on Juniata athletics visit http://athletics.juniata.edu

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.