Sept. 23, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Purdue women's soccer team fell today, 2-1, to Northwestern in Evanston, as the Wildcats scored with two seconds left to play in regulation. The Boilermakers fall to 4-3-0 (1-1-0 Big Ten), while Northwestern improves to 2-3-1 (1-0-1 Big Ten).
"Today we put in a good effort, which is the important part," said Purdue head coach Rob Klatte. "Going 1-2 on the week is disappointing, but we are even with our results on the weekend and I have confidence in our team that we'll come back and play some good soccer. Sometimes things don't go your way and that's truly unlucky. That's what happened to us today.
"As far as our play, I thought that we were well organized and we defended well. We did give them several opportunities and didn't convert on several of our opportunities that could have seperated us out in front. We left the game for late and they picked it up at the end. We have two huge games next weekend that we'll prepare for this week."
The Boilermakers came out strong in the first half, as sophomore forward Courtney Coppedge quickly made her way down the field and tallied the first shot of the game, a strong header, off of a pass from the left side. Northwestern keeper Suzie McCreery made a great save, but Coppedge was not satisfied with being so close.
Then at the 14:23 mark, Coppedge found senior midfielder Katie Redmond open and slotted the ball into the middle as Redmond pushed the ball through the Northwestern defense. Meanwhile, freshman forward Lauren Sesselmann cut loose and notched the breakaway goal from the right side.
Purdue continued its physical play and the Wildcats fought back too, evening the score at the 22:23 mark. Kate Rawsthorne was able to follow Katie Hertz's shot into the goal and then follow up with the goal as the ball bounced off of Purdue keeper Jocelyn Cavalier.
The game continued as a stalwart and looked as if overtime was on its way. But with less than 20 seconds left, Purdue committed a foul just outside the box and Northwestern was awarded a free kick from about 30 yards out. Purdue set up its wall with less than ten seconds left and the Wildcats kicked off just in time.
Then, somehow, the ball made its way through the wall and into the goal, as the clock stopped with two seconds remaining.
The Boilermakers outshot the Wildcats, 9-7, but Northwestern outcornered Purdue 6-3.
In the goal, junior Jocelyn Cavalier started and tallied two saves in the first half. Senior Elizabeth Boldt took over at the break and notched one save.
The Boilermakers will be back in action on Friday, Sept. 28, and Sunday, Sept. 30, when they host Penn State and Ohio State. Game time on Friday is 4 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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