illiant shot by a special player.”
On a high-arcing, majestic try, Angela Cotherman just couldn’t believe it went in.
The junior midfielder along with the DePauw women’s soccer offense and the Allegheny College defense watched the ball off her free kick from about 25-yards out soar over a helpless goalkeeper and bounce into the net. The goal came just three minutes into overtime, and it lifted the Tigers over the Gators (9-8-1, 4-4 NCAC) by a final score of 2-1. The win earned DePauw (5-10-1, 4-3-1 NCAC) a chance for a NCAC postseason appearance.
Later in the day, Wittenberg University beat Kenyon College, 2-0, and DePauw locked up the final No. 4 spot in the postseason.
“We took care of what we had to do even though at times it was ugly,” Carter said after the game. “At the end of the day, they fought and competed, and they found a way.”
DePauw struggled throughout the game to put one in the back of the net. In the fourth minute, a pass through the Gators’ defense found senior Dana Sprague sprinting down the left sideline. She curled in for a one-on-one chance with Allegheny goalkeeper, Kylie Mason, and Mason came out to challenge. Mason tried to fall on top of the ball, but it skirted away from her, and Sprague corralled the ball again in front of an empty net on the left side. Her shot hit the side netting.
Throughout the first half, the Tigers pressured the Allegheny defense, but couldn’t find the net for a 0-0 tie at the break. The Gators couldn’t connect either, as they outshot DePauw, 4-3.
In the second half it was all Allegheny, and the visitors finally connected on a chance in the 71st minute. Down 1-0, it looked as though DePauw’s season was over as the Gators kept up the pressure offensively.
With three minutes left to go in the game, the Tigers earned a free kick just beyond the 18-yard box on the left side.
Cotherman knew what to do.
“Most of the shots, when they’re right outside the box, we tend to just shoot them because they’re so close,” Cotherman said. “If they bounce out there are people to rebound it.”
“My teammates always tell me ‘lean over the ball and shoot low,’ and that tends to get to me a lot. I leaned over this ball and it just drifted in. I got kind of lucky.”
The ball rocketed off her foot and hit the right-side netting just inside the goalpost to even the score, 1-1, and send the game into overtime.
Before Saturday’s game, DePauw was 1-2-1 in overtime games.
Minutes into overtime, the Tigers earned an almost identical free kick to the one that resulted in Cotherman’s goal in regulation time. Again, the junior stood over the ball just beyond the 18-yard box on the left side, and this time lifted a high shot.
Mason didn’t even try to knock the ball away as it fell behind her and bounced into the net to end the game.
“I was completely shocked,” Cotherman said. “I thought it went over and then it bounced to the corner, and then everyone turned around and just freaked out. … This is a great feeling. I’m going to cherish it forever.”
Despite the win, both Carter and Cotherman admitted the team has some issues to fix before Wednesday’s NCAC semifinal game against No. 1 Wittenberg (11-3-3, 7-0-1 NCAC).
“The second half was not very good for us and it was hard for us to keep control of the ball and keep moving forward,” Cotherman said.
Added Carter: “We have to make the ball work, and when we made it work, they had no answer for us.”
DePauw travels Thursday to Wittenberg at 7 p.m.