Four games into the season and freshman Sarah Luebbert has proven that she is a competitor for the Missouri Tigers soccer team. She continues to lead the team in goals (3) after putting last night’s game against the Colorado Buffalos to rest in yet another overtime for Missouri.
Tigers junior Kaitlyn Clark got the the team off to a quick start after snagging the ball away as Colorado tried to advance upfield. Clark was almost left alone when she scored her goal, which was the first shot attempt of the game for the Tigers, to put them up 1-0 approximately four minutes into the first half.
The Tigers went cold following Clark’s shot to open the game. Colorado sophomore Sarah Kinzner tied the game at 1-1 with 20:58 on the clock after the Buffalos failed to convert on one of their three corner kicks.
“We scored a great first goal but we let off the gas,” Missouri Head Coach Bryan Blitz said. “We’ll take the win and learn from the lesson as we move forward.”
A lesson learned again as the Tigers have proven themselves in their third overtime test this season.
Missouri had two nail-biting well-defended kicks that could have closed the game in regulation with 2:21 remaining in the second half. To the dissatisfaction of the crowd that was in awe of the Colorado defense, the saves sent the game to overtime.
“We create a ton of chances to score, but it’s always better when we finally capitalize on them,” Luebbert said.
The Tigers had 24 shots in the game, and four of those attempts could have ended the game sooner if the Buffalos did not have clutch saves at the end of regulation and the start of overtime. Colorado had 12 total saves in the game.
In overtime, the Tigers scored the game winner in a mad scramble for the ball. Junior Jessica Johnson and senior Erin Webb came up with the only two assists in the game for Missouri after Luebbert’s shot to put the Tigers up 2-1 to seal the victory with 6:04 on the game clock.
Both teams were 2-1 coming into last nights game, but Missouri is 3-1 on the season after the win. They will host San Francisco at Walton Stadium in Columbia, Mo. on Friday, Sept. 2. The game against San Francisco is the second to last game before the Tigers open up conference play at Ole Miss.