Box Score
CEDAR CITY, Utah. - The IUPUI women's soccer team opened Mid-Continent Conference play with a 0-0 double overtime tie at Southern Utah on Friday afternoon. Junior goalkeeper Jessie Mann (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) went the entire 110 minutes in goal, picking up her first shutout of the season.
Mann made five stops for the fifth blanking of her career.
Despite being outshot 15-6, IUPUI head coach Chris Johnson was thrilled with his team's defensive effort.
"It says they outshot us, but I would really only consider one or two of their shots to be dangerous opportunities," Johnson said.
Part of the defense's success stemmed from the return of sophomore center back Lisa Gebhard (Fond du Lac, Wisc./Fond du Lac) to the starting lineup. The 5-foot-5 defender was sidelined to an ankle injury, forcing the Jags to go with a makeshift defense the past two matches.
"I thought Lisa came back and played very well with Maggie (Mistovich) in the middle," Johnson said. "That let us move Joan (Vidimos) back to the midfield and helped us win more balls."
Offensively, freshman Mary Galouzis (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) was credited with two of the team's six shots from the midfield. Johnson attributed part of Jags' offensive woes to playing on a small field.
"Their field is really small and it makes it hard to get width on the outside in the attack," Johnson said. "We played with the ball in their end of the field for most of the match. We just couldn't seem to put one away.
"We'd have a shot and not hit it hard enough or miss wide. Then we'd get a nice cross and not have someone on the other end of the pass."
Southern Utah's best scoring chance of the match came midway through the second half when Catherine Johnson put a shot on goal from 20 yards out, forcing Mann to make a diving stop. SUU goalkeeper Holly Davis made two saves for her shutout.
The tie sent IUPUI's record to 2-4-2 overall while Southern Utah is now 2-2-2. It was the conference opener for both schools.
"Overall, we're not disappointed with this result," Johnson said. "We need to take care of our home field and pick up some points on the road. That's what we did today."
IUPUI concludes their two-game stop in Cedar City tomorrow when they face Boise State. It is the first-time in Johnson's tenure at IUPUI that the Jags have played on back-to-back days.
