INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI senior forward Catherine Raster scored a pair of goals as the IUPUI women's soccer team pushed Western Michigan to the brink in a 2-2 preseason draw at Michael A. Carroll Stadium on Friday night (Aug. 12). Raster scored the game's first goal in the ninth minute and tallied again in the 51st minute to account for the Jaguars' scoring. Not bad for a young lady who enters her senior year having never scored more than two goals in any of her first three seasons.

"For being just a week and a half into preseason, I think we're right where we want to be. I can't question the effort," IUPUI Head Coach Chris Johnson said.

"I thought (Cat) did a great job of being explosive out there with the ball. I think (Cat) wishes this would've been a regular season game so those two (goals) would count, but she'll just have to come out and do it again next weekend."

WMU got scores from Emma Kahn in the 25th minute and Tiffany Buckler in the 54th minute to equalize on both occasions. The teams opted against playing overtime, instead calling it a draw after 90 minutes. 

"It was good for our team to get a goal early and score two overall," Raster said. "We've worked really hard on finishing and capitalizing on our chances and it was good to get to put some away today."

Raster's first score came, thanks to a gorgeous delivery from senior running mate Tori Minnich. Minnich dropped off a pass to Raster, who's attempt from the top of the 18 redirected off a WMU defender and inside the right post.

WMU finally tipped the field in their favor midway through the first half and solved junior goalkeeper Catherine Schmidt in the 25th minute. Savannah Bosworth played a strong cross to Emma Kahn, who scored from in close. The Broncos kept the heat on Schmidt and the Jaguars' defense for the remainder of the half, but IUPUI held strong, despite being outshot 12-4 in the opening 45 minutes.

Both sides went to reserve goalies to start the second half, but the game was ultimately played between the 18's.

Raster broke free in the 51st minute, taking a centering pass from Krissy Kirkhoff and driving a shot past WMU's Makenzie Larson, who played the entire second half in net. WMU got even in the 54th minute when an errant IUPUI clearance led to a scoring chance. Tiffany Buckler capitalized on the chance, hitting a shot just off the inside of the left post, past IUPUI rookie Sophia Lipka.

WMU, which went 14-4-4 a season ago, finished with a 22-7 shot advantage and 11-6 margin on frame. Kirkhoff and Raster accounted for all seven of the Jaguars' attempts with Kirkhoff firing a game-high five.

Schmidt made six saves in her 45 minutes while Lipka had three stops in a less busy second half. Despite the draw, Raster and her teammates know there's work to be done.

"I think we can do a better job of reading each other and reading the game better," Raster said. "Just reading each others' body language and where we want the ball will help us out.

"From there, we just have to clean some things up between now and next week."

"I think that we're resilient," Johnson said. "They took it to us for quite awhile and our kids kind of held together. We were kind of disorganized in the first half and beginning of the second half, but we were trying to decipher what they were doing and what we wanted to do against them.

"I thought our kids got better at communicating as the game went on, which is something we've been working on. But you definitely need a game to prove what you have to do out there."

IUPUI will open the regular season on Friday, Aug. 19 when the Jaguars host Valparaiso at 7:30 p.m. at Carroll Stadium. Admission is just $5 for adults and $4 for IUPUI faculty and staff members. Youth ages 3-12 are just $2.