Game Boxscore
CALDWELL, Idaho - Goals by Brittany Lacey and Taylor Culver in the final three minutes helped The College of Idaho stun rival Northwest Nazarene, as the Lady Yotes opened the 2011 women's soccer season with a 3-2 victory over the Crusaders at Syringa Middle School.
By Mike Stetson of the Idaho Press-Tribune
Coyote coach Niki Taylor wouldn't mind a little less drama, but definitely loved the perseverance.
Taylor's College of Idaho women's soccer team rallied from a goal down late, scoring twice in the final 2 minutes, 46 seconds to upend cross-county rival Northwest Nazarene, 3-2, on Saturday in a game the Crusaders came within inches of icing moments before the Yote rally.
“I told them they're going to give me a heart-attack and ulcers,” Taylor said. “It's good to get the win and it was very exciting, but I don't need that much excitement in my life.”
The Coyotes (1-0 overall) trailed 1-0 and 2-1, but managed to thrive in the fleeting moments of each half, which proved heartbreaking for the Crusaders (1-1).
Making the loss even tougher to swallow was a missed opportunity by NNU with 9 ½ minutes to play when Autumn Yturbe beat Yote keeper Aimee Pierson to a loose ball in the goal box.
With a wide-open net and a chance to put her team up 3-1, Yturbe's shot bounced off the left goalpost and back into the field of play.
“Obviously it's very frustrating, but by the same token that's composure,” NNU coach Jamie Lindvall said. “We have to be composed in those situations.
“And then we're still up 2-1. We're up 2-1, we have to manage that, and I thought we were doing a really good job of managing it and then we just made some poor decisions.”
Like letting Yote players set up in the goal-box and pick their shots on both late goals.
Chelsea Heffner set up the first, centering a bass from the right side to Brittney Lacey who stopped at the top of the NNU box, let a Crusader slip by, then the Yote midfielder booted the game-tying goal into the left of the net with 2:46 to play.
The C of I wasn't done, though, winning it with 30.3 seconds on the clock when Heffner headed forward a free kick to Taylor Culver.
Culver collected the ball, paused, then blasted the winning home for the 3-2 victory.
“Amazing, just shows what our team can do, the potential we have,” Heffner said, adding of seeing NNU hit the post “... as soon as we got it back, everyone just played as hard as they could and we proved it, we can score in the last five minutes, two goals.”
Proud of the comeback effort, Taylor did admit she felt her team didn't play as intense as they showed have before falling behind.
“When we finally went down we knew that somebody had to go and go get one back,” the Yote coach said.
NNU put the C of I down 1-0 in the 22nd minute as Erika Kristensen sent a ball up the right to Yturbe who got behind the Yote defense and beat first-half Coyote keeper Melissa Holmes-Joseph (0 saves).
The Yotes responded with 2:03 left to halftime on an Alex Suggs goal, set up by Culver.
With 14:19 to go, NNU took the 2-1 edge as Yturbe this time set up Kristensen, who looped a ball over Pierson (4 saves) off the crossbar and in, setting up the Yotes' dramatic rally.
The C of I outshot NNU 24-7 in the contest, with Crusader goalie Tanya Zickefoose making 11 saves in the game.
