WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Senior midfielder
Morgan Hannon delivered a golden goal with a strike from 25 yards out in the 100th minute to propel the Midwestern State women's soccer team to a 1-0 overtime win over Colorado State-Pueblo Wednesday night at MSU Soccer Field.
After having a penalty kick snatched up by CSU-Pueblo (4-5-2) freshman goalkeeper Ann-Marie O'Connell in the 55th minute, Hannon found the net the second time with 54 ticks left in the first overtime. With one minute to play in the first extra period, junior midfielder
Liz Navarette took control of a ball and passed it over to Hannon on the right side before she sent a shot over the outstretched hands of O'Connell to help the Mustangs to victory.
"Morgan needed it," said head coach
Damian Clarke. "Her taking that breath before she hit it and hitting a fantastic ball, that's the redemption."
It was the first overtime win for the Mustangs (6-2-2) since they defeated No. 24 Texas A&M-Commerce, 3-2, in Commerce back on Oct. 6, 2013, when Tatyanny Griffiths netted a penalty kick with one second remaining in the first overtime.
The Midwestern State defense was dominant once again Wednesday, limiting the ThunderWolves to just four shots with one on goal as the Mustangs tallied their sixth shutout of the season.
"The back four is just solid," Clarke said. "We're very fortunate to have some very good defending players who are organized. It's not very often that people get behind us. I thought today was kind of the same. We were difficult to break down and we did a good job."
On the offensive end, the Mustangs totaled 19 shots on the night with the lone shot in the extra period being Hannon's game winner.
The Mustangs had a couple of missed opportunities in the second period, the first coming on the penalty kick. Navarette was tripped inside the box to set up Hannon for the kick, but O'Connell collected the save to keep the match scoreless.
In the 83rd minute, the Mustangs almost struck again as sophomore forward
Destinee Williamson had her shot just miss the top of the net before hitting the crossbar to send the match into overtime.
"We were decent. At the end of the day, I felt we were missing a little bit of energy," Clarke said. "We dominated a lot of aspects of the game but they created some good chances on us that were scary and they very well could have won the game. I thought somehow we were missing a spark to an extent."
Williamson finished with a team-high five shots with two on goal while Hannon recorded all three of her shots on goal.
Junior midfielder Mariel Hundley placed the only shot on goal for the ThunderWolves with four different players tallying one shot apiece.
Midwestern State returns to Lone Star Conference action Friday when the Mustangs host No. 5 Angelo State in a 7 p.m. kickoff at MSU Soccer Field.
– MSUMustangs.com –