October 21, 2005 Sycamores Pick Up Thrilling OT Victory over Illinois State 3-2 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – ISU sophomore Lauren Podolski made her way around multiple Illinois State defenders and blasted a ball from 12 yards out to seal the double-overtime victory for the Sycamores on Friday. The win moves the Sycamores to within one point of fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference. Indiana State started strong in the game taking the lead 2-0 only 25 minutes into the game. Junior Nichole Tiggs put a header into the back of the net off a free kick from Callie McDonough at the 8:30 mark in the game. Tiggs would then drop a perfect ball 16 minutes later to a streaking Podolski who drilled home her first of two goals in the game. “Going into halftime up 2-0 is one of the most dangerous scenarios in soccer,” head coach Vernon Croft said. “They really came out in the second half and pressured us and we didn’t handle it very well.” Coming into the game with the Sycamore the Redbirds had outscored their opponents 16 to six in the second half and continued that trend against ISU. Illinois State had a difficult attack to contain in the second half and scored two goals in a ten minute time frame. Redbird senior Heather Forsyth’s goals from 10 and 15 yards at 59:30 and 69:31 trimmed the lead and tied the game for Illinois State. The Sycamores headed to overtime for an ISU-record fifth time this season, where they had yet to find a win. The Redbirds had also posted a winless record in the extra minutes of play, but both teams were focused and came out with intensity. Illinois State continued on the attack in the overtime periods out shooting the Sycamores 2 to 1 and creating four corner kicks to ISU’s one. However, it was Podolski’s blast that gave the Sycamores their first overtime win this season. “I really didn’t worry heading into overtime,” Croft said. “I just knew that this was our time and the girls did a great job and battled really well.” Podolski led the Sycamores in points during the game with four points off two goals, while her teammate Tiggs tallied three points off a goal and an assists. The showing for Tiggs puts her on the brink of ISU history, trailing the ISU all-time points and goal leader, Claire Hemkens, by one point with two games remaining. Podolski also moved up in similar categories and now ranks third all-time in points and goals with 34 and 13 on her career. If several variables happen this weekend the Sycamores could find
themselves in a tie with third-place Creighton and host a conference
play-in game on the 30 of October. However, Indiana State will have
to post a win against Evansville on Sunday at 1 p.m. to do all they
can to move up.
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