CUW women's soccer gets an OT road win!

LISLE, Ill.- FRUSTRATING and then EXHILERATING is an appropriate word combination to describe Saturday afternoon's 3-2 double overtime road win against host North Central.

Senior CUW superstar Lauren Straehler (Pewaukee, Wis.) ended 100 minutes of the incredibly FRUSTRATING portion of the match with a blast less than a minute into the second OT session to bring CUW's season mark to a glossy 3-1-0.

Ryan Middendorf's Falcons absolutely dominated the shot column and all other meaningless statistics, forcing North Central goalkeeper Ashley Clore to make ten excellent saves during regulation, and the Falcons also blasted a pair of additional opportunities off the crossbar while outshooting the hosts 19-6 during the ordinarily scheduled 90 minutes.

Yet CUW actually had to battle from behind to even earn the overtime opportunity.

North Central's Tara Rush found the back of the net less than two minutes into the contest after a defensive gaffe before Falcon Brittany Klumpp, (Fr./ Rubicon, Wis.) knocked in a pass from sophomore Emily Ciesielczyk (Waukesha, Wis.) twenty minutes later to tie the match.

The hosts regained the lead at 30:55 when Victoria Dunn scored off a quick counter attack and held that 2-1 edge until CUW's Chelsea Driver (Sr./ Greenwood, Ind.) knotted the scoreboard six minutes into the second half on an unassisted tally.

From that point, the match found CUW attacking and the superhuman Clore making save after save, including four more in the first overtime before Straehler finally got the golden goal past her and allowed the CUW CELEBRATION and EXHILERATION portion to begin...and set up a fun bus ride home. 

"Things certainly did not start out well for us but we kept our composure and took over as the match went on... and that's an important team quality," emphasized Middendorf.