It took a few extra minutes to determine the final result, and drama definitely wasn’t lacking; but in the end, the Saint Louis University field hockey team emerged victorious in their season opener Saturday afternoon against Southwest Missouri State at the Anheuser-Busch Center.
After seventy minutes of regulation play, produced a 1-1 tie. The game headed to overtime, where both teams had multiple chances to score the winner.
After both teams traded shots and offensive opportunities, SMS came within inches of ending the game, but the shot by a Bears player hit the post instead of going in the goal.
The Billikens finally broke the tie when sophomore Kristin Lueders scored off a penalty corner at the 80:57 mark.
Junior Michelle Sinclair started off the play by sending the ball to senior Jamie Smeland, who stopped the ball and allowed Lueders to drill her shot past Bears goalkeeper Jessica Schuster.
SLU took the early lead whenfreshman Mary Henry scored her first career goal at the 5:22 mark. Senior Carin Boone sent a cross over to Henry, who collected the pass and beat Schuster for the goal.
Both teams had good chances to score throughout the remainder of the half, yet neither team was able to put the ball in the goal. SLU goalkeeper Amy Wasserman, making her first collegiate start, made a pair of saves around the 18-minute mark.
A few minutes later, the Billikens sent a flurry of shots at the SMS goal, but none of them crossed the goal line.
After trailing for 50 minutes, SMS finally got on the scoreboard when JoAnn Westman scored for the Bears on a feed from Stephani Wehrman.
From a statistical perspective, the only difference between the two teams was the score.
Both teams were even with 18 shots, eight penalty corners, and 10 saves apiece.
“It’s a great way to start the season with a ‘W,'” SLU Head Coach Maria Whitehead said after the game.
“I think the first game of the year, you always pick up on a ton of things you can work on, but I think it was a good start. I can’t complain with that,” said Whitehead.
With the win, the Billikens start their regular season with a record of 1-0.
The Bears, also playing in their season opener, saw their record fall to 0-1.
This was the second consecutive season in which the Billikens and Bears began their respective seasons with a 2-1 SLU victory in overtime.
On another historic note, the contest was the final field hockey game played using the name of Southwest Missouri State University.
The university’s long-discussed name change to Missouri State University became official at 12:00 a.m. Sunday.
The Billikens are next in action Friday, as they host the Central Michigan University Chippewas at 1:00 p.m.
The game will be the season opener for the Chippewas. They finished the 2004 season with a 8-11-0 record.
Following their tilt with CMU, the Billikens will host the University of New Hampshire Wildcats on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Wildcats currently have a record of 1-1 this season. Both games will be played at the Anheuser-Busch Center.
Also of importance to the Billikens this season is the first time that SLU field hockey will compete in the same conference as the rest of SLU’s athletic teams.
When the University made the move to the Atlantic 10 Conference, the field hockey team ended its membership in the Northern Pacific (NorPac) League to join the A-10.
As a result, the Billikens will host A-10 foes Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Richmond, while traveling to West Chester and LaSalle.
They are also eligible to play in the A-10 tournament in Philadelphia in early November.
