Lewis' Overtime Strike Leads Salukis Over Eagles

Sunday, September 15

Carbondale, Ill.

1 PM

Southern Illinois University

4-4-1, 0-0-0

Morehead State

1-6-0, 0-0-0

Morehead St.

Southern Ill.

09/15/2019 | 3:43:00 | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Brandon Lindholm, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Led by sophomore midfielder Ellie Lewis' golden goal in the second minute of overtime, Southern Illinois (4-4-1 overall) topped the Morehead State Eagles (1-6) 2-1 on Sunday.

The Eagles got on board first with a goal in the seventh minute by way of Gabby Natasi, her second of the season. SIU evened things up in the match's 24^thminute when freshman forward Madison Meiring scored her first career goal

The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the half, as Morehead registered eight shots to the Salukis' eight, before heading into the break tied.

Both teams maintained balanced offenses throughout the second half with five shots each, but neither program could find the back of the net before time expired.

As things were getting underway in overtime, Morehead State committed a foul just outside the halfway line, setting up Lewis with free kick nearly 40 yards out of the Eagle's goal. The chip shot from Lewis bounced over the heads of her teammates and got tipped in by an Eagle defender into the right side of the goal, giving the Salukis the walk off victory.

Ellie Lewis' postgame comments

How it felt scoring her first career goal on her first shot
It feels great. I think the team battled really hard over the 90 minutes. It just came at an opportune time and I'm glad we got it in when we did.

On the team's performance
Over the season, coach has preached effort, grit and just fighting through everything. I think that our performance proved it there. Going into overtime, it's a tough situation but I think we proved we can keep up with anyone at that point.

Head coach Grant Williams' postgame comments

On how the team responded to the weather and many substitutions
After we talked on Friday at halftime, my challenge to them was to feel good about the work you put in regardless of the outcome. Whether it's a minute or 45 minutes. That was the challenge I game them today. Feel good about whatever your contribution is. Win your individual battle that way. We didn't have a drop. Everybody is going to make mistakes, whether it's our best player or not. I thought the collective effort from anyone on the field today was positive and that gives you an opportunity to get a result.

On his team's performance
Resiliency. We had tied and had lost a couple games back-to-back, including one pretty heavily. Getting the right balance of accountability and training while recognizing those performances weren't good enough and then figuring out how we get them motivated in a positive headspace to be aggressive and confidence when they take the experience today. Again, the first half wasn't perfect or had any tactical execution. As I told them after the game, they made one more play than the other team and you walked away with a win.

On getting back within an offensive groove after the past few games
We had to change our shape a little bit based on what system the other team played. To me, the reason the last few games have been lopsided statistically was because we weren't able to keep the ball. We had some dangerous moments that didn't result in shots. The difference today was that the other team played with three in the back and left a lot of space. We have a couple of kids are pretty quick so I talked to them about not playing in front of those backs, but that we needed to try to play those spaces in behind, either wide or it's got to be a ball that splits and it's not defeated. We gave our kids who are a fast a chance and it worked out for us.

Up Next:The Salukis look towards Thursday, where they will welcome in Lipscomb (4-3) for a match at 6 p.m. Last season, the Bison earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament and the second round for the first time in program history.