MACOMB, Ill. – Ali Smyth's overtime goal helped lift Western Illinois to a 3-2 victory over Summit League rival Oral Roberts on Friday, Oct. 15.
Smyth scored just over four minutes into the overtime period when she collected a ball off a rebound and ripped a shot past Oral Roberts goalkeeper Amanda Wheeler for the game-winner. Laura Lins picked up the assist on the play.
"This is a huge win for us because it still gives us a chance to win the league title," Smyth said. "It was also great for me personally because my family came in from Northern Ireland for the weekend so to get a game-winner with them watching feels great."
The Fighting Leathernecks (7-4-4, 3-1-1 Summit) stormed out to an early 2-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the match. Jordan Spaciel got the scoring started when she headed in a corner from Miranda Graham at the 2:37 mark.
Kelly Diershow added to the lead with her first career goal at the 6:11 mark. Diershow gathered a bouncing ball off a pass from Jenny Green and found the back of the net to push the lead to 2-0.
"It feels like I've been waiting forever to finally score a goal," Diershow said. "I kept telling myself 'just don't hit it over the goal' and I was able to gather it and get off a good shot."
Despite the early 2-0 deficit, the Golden Eagles (7-5-1, 2-1-1 Summit) would not go away without a fight. Oral Roberts was able to close the gap to 2-1 when a corner kick deflected off a Western Illinois player and into the back of the net for an own goal in the 27th minute.
The Golden Eagles would tie the match just five minutes later when Anna Bickers scored the equalizer at the 32:27 mark of the match. Neither team could find the go-ahead goal in regulation as the match moved to overtime.
"It was definitely great to come out and score as quickly as we did," said head coach Tony Guinn. "At the same time it was a bit disheartening to see us give up two goals and let them get back in the match. In the end we pulled it all together and I'm very proud of our team for fighting through some adversity on the way to a win."
In what was nearly a mirror image of the beginning of the match, Western wasted no time in notching the game winner as Smyth scored just over four minutes into overtime. The win helped the Leathernecks improve to 6-1-3 in their last ten matches.
"I thought defensively we played really well today," Guinn said. "The back line of Caitlin Barrett, Jenny Green and Laura Lins played very well and Jordan showed what a difference-maker she can be. It was great to see Kelly Diershow score her first career-goal and Ali Smyth showed us again that she's a great finisher with the ball at her feet."
Laura Atkinson (6-3-4) picked up the win and made four stops in the contest. Western Illinois outshot Oral Roberts by a 17 to eight margin, but the Golden Eagles only trailed by an eight to seven count in shots on goal.
The Leathernecks were awarded six corner kicks to five for Oral Roberts and were called for 16 fouls compared to 12 for the Golden Eagles.
Western Illinois will wrap up its 2010 home schedule when it plays host to Centenary in Summit League action at noon on Sunday. The Leathernecks will honor their senior class with a pregame Senior Day ceremony before the match.
