GREENWOOD – Despite a late second half goal from Lauren Shuba, the Lander women’s soccer dropped a heartbreaker to Wingate, 2-1, in double-overtime at Van Taylor Stadium on Saturday night.
The Bearcats (3-1) trailed 1-0 with 7:30 to play when Shuba took a pass from Kari Georgeand drilled a shot across the box into the upper-left corner of the net. Lander held Wingate (1-1) off the board for the final minutes to force their first overtime match of the season.
“You love the resiliancy,” said head coach Chris Ayer. “This is a young group and I said last week, we’re going to make some mistakes at times because we’re a young group, but we fight. It’s a good team and I’m looking forward to seeing where we’re going.”
After the two sides played to a draw in the first half, the Bulldogs opened up the scoring. After intercepting a pass at midfield, Lily Butler sent a pass ahead to Taylor Leyble, who rolled a shot inside the left post to put Wingate up in the 72nd minute.
Shuba’s goal in the 83rd minute brought the Bearcats back and both teams played out regulation and the first overtime period without a score. With 4:48 remaining in the the second overtime, Gabby Fleischli intercepted a pass inside the Lander box and dished to Leyble, who netted her second goal of the night and the game-winner.
Bearcat goalkeeper Sarah Owen tallied a career-high 11 saves in the loss.
The Bearcats will regroup and prepare for the conference opener against Clayton State next Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. at Van Taylor Stadium.
