Sarah Gamache scored on a rebound of her own blocked shot 4:10 into overtime to give Pacific Lutheran a hard-earned 2-1 Northwest Conference women's soccer win over the visiting George Fox Bruins on Sunday afternoon.
Gamache ran onto Karli Hurlbut's through ball, got off a shot that was stopped at point blank range by sliding George Fox keeper Alyssa Montero, and then stepped past the prone Montero to knock the ball into the open goal.
The victory ended a six-match losing skid for the Lutes, who improved to 3-7 overall and 2-6 at the halfway mark of the conference season. With the loss, George Fox drops to 2-7-3 overall and 2-5-1 in the NWC.
Pacific Lutheran took a 1-0 lead 30:41 into the game when Erica Boyle latched onto Blake Warner's pass that was deflected near the top right corner of the penalty box. Boyle's first-time shot went back across the face of goal, past Montero, and into the netting. For the versatile Boyle, playing right back in this game, it was her second goal of the season.
The Bruins tied the score at 51:15 when Alicia Wong's hopeful 35-yard shot rolled under the hands of PLU keeper Laurie Reddy and into the goal. It was Wong's first goal of the season.
Later in the second half, Reddy came up with several big saves to send the game into extra time. With 2:13 left in the game, she made a reaction save on Lela Stockley's shot, and just six seconds later she was back on her feet to parry away a follow up effort by Madison Miller.
On the other end of the field, Montero was called on to make several late saves, including a sprawling touch around the post on Karli Hurlbut's header.
That set up the overtime and led to Gamache's fourth goal of the season, and PLU's second overtime wins in conference play.
Reddy finished the match with four saves, while Montero was called on to make five.
The Lutes finished the game with a 12-9 advantage in shots, though the Bruins had a 4-2 margin in corner kicks.
PLU returns to conference action next weekend, hosting Whitworth on Saturday and Whitman on Sunday, both games set to kick off at noon on the PLU soccer field.
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