SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford College women's soccer team opened the 2021 season with a 2-1 overtime win over Longwood at Snyder Field on Friday night.
Katie Gilligan scored in the first half and had the game-winner in extra time for the Terriers.
At the 10:53 mark of the first half, the Terriers got on the board when
Rachel Rasins found
Katie Gilligan at the top of the box and she placed the ball in the top right of the net for a 1-0 lead. At the 24:25 mark,
Caileen Almeida had a chance on a shot that hit the cross bar. Both teams had four shots in the first half.
In the second half, the Lancers tied the game off a header by Danielle Toone at the 58:48 mark. The teams played even for most of the remainder of the half. Wofford had a chance on a shot by
Megan Childress with 86:42 on the clock that was saved. Longwood had a corner kick opportunity with under a minute remaining but were unable to put a shot on goal.
The first shot of overtime was by Wofford's
Rachel Rasins, which was wide. The Lancers had a shot go wide five minutes into extra time and Rasins had a second shot two minutes later. At the 98:29 mark,
Katie Gilligan took a shot from 25-yards out that grazed the crossbar and went into the top right corner for the goal.
"I think in the first few games here we are just excited to learn a lot," said head coach
Emily Grant. "We played a lot of players today and gave them a lot of opportunities, which helped us learn a lot. We will learn even more when we break down the film and be better for it. We would have liked not to concede a goal to tie the game because I thought we had a good handle on things early. I am proud of the girls to fight and scrap and find a way back to win the game in overtime which was exciting."
Overall, Wofford (1-0) had eleven shots to nine for Longwood (0-1). Wofford also had a seven to six advantage in corner kicks.
Sophie Hefner (1-0) had one save in goal for the Terriers, while
Caroline Doss had three saves. Longwood goalkeeper Mary Kate Levush had three saves on the night.
The Terriers will travel to Conway, S.C. on Sunday to face Coastal Carolina at 2:00 p.m. The next home game will be Friday, August 27 at 7:00 p.m. against Radford.
