INDIANAPOLIS - The IU Indianapolis women's soccer team rallied from a halftime deficit to claim a 3-2 home win over Northern Kentucky in Horizon League play on Sunday (Sept. 27) to snap a five-game winless streak. The Jaguars trailed 2-1 at intermission, but scored a pair of unanswered goals to secure a first league win of the season.
Junior
Annaliese Black scored the game's first goal while senior
Caroline Kelley and freshman
Taylor Townley netted the game-tying and game-winning goals. Sophomore
Isabel Oferosky dialed up a dandy against a strong NKU (5-4-1, 1-2 HL) attack, recording nine saves in the victory.
"It was just straight up effort and understanding, sticking with the game plan," head coach
Angela Berry White said. "The first 15 minutes of the game was looking pretty promising for us, we just kind of got away from that. At halftime, we just recalibrated everything, everything from our back line to our midfield to up top and what each and every position was supposed to be accomplishing. They stepped up and they did it for 45 minutes. They listened, and look what happened."
The Jaguars took a quick lead in the seventh minute when Black finished from in close after a corner kick. Townley got the initial touch which deflected back to Black, who flushed her third score of the year.
NKU countered with tallies in the 32nd and 34th minutes to take the lead and was persistent in the attack with the bulk of their possession in the Jaguar half of the field. The Jags (3-6-2, 1-2 HL) seemingly leveled the play to start the second half with Kelley and
Addison Stover challenging with shot attempts in the early moments.
Kelley leveled the score in the 57th minute, thanks in large part to a poor NKU restart. After Kelley had just flown a shot over the bar leading to a goal kick, the ensuing restart when right to Kelley, who calmly moved into shooting range and laced a shot inside the left post for her 15th career goal.
The Jaguars seized the lead in the 71st minute when Townley headed a
Maci Sammons corner kick into the lower left-hand corner for her first career score.
"It's kind of rewarding, but really the attackers did all the job," Townley said of getting forward for a score. "I mean, I just had to tap it in - great service again."
The Jaguars staved off NKU over the closing minutes as the defensive third stayed solid and composed under pressure. Townley,
Shannon Phillips and
Katie Hoog all played the full 90 minutes while
Bethany Hartigan played 86 minutes with two brief respites to clean and patch blood.
Kelley fired a team-high four shots while
Madeline Chappa attempted three.
NKU finished with a 19-17 shot advantage and 11-9 margin in shots on goal. The Norse also closed with 11 corner kicks, but were largely unsuccessful in capitalizing in close.
IU Indy will be back in action on Thursday, Oct. 1 when it faces Cleveland State on the road at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
