Women's Soccer | 9/29/2018 9:27:00 PM

Box Score MISENHEIMER, N.C.  Alexa Smith scored her first goal of the season to provide Methodist with a first-half lead, but host Pfeiffer would score the equalizer late in the second half, then add the game-winner in overtime to rally past the Monarchs for a 2-1 USA South Athletic Conference women's soccer victory Saturday afternoon at N.E. Lefko Field.

JUST THE FACTS
Final score: Pfeiffer def. Methodist, 2-1 OT
Records: Methodist 4-3 overall, 0-1 USA South; Pfeiffer 5-1, 1-0 USA South
Location: N.E. Lefko Field, Misenheimer, N.C.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Early action favored the Monarchs who registered three of the game's initial four shots.
• That fourth shot was the one that moved the scoreboard. Methodist drove deep into its attacking third in the 24th minute, with a cross from the right side by Haley Bowles skipping through her first target. But Smith had driven toward the back post and pounced on the still-rolling service from Bowles to poke in the game's initial marker at the 23:32 mark.
• Bowles nearly doubled the advantage four minutes later but her shot drifted to the outside of the left post.
• By halftime the home team had gained ground with their attack. Pfeiffer notched the final six shots of the opening 45 minutes with two of those six directed on frame and requiring saves by Maggie Hunt.
• Gillian Neisel logged the second half's opening shot, just over the crossbar, but Pfeiffer turned momentum and pressured the Methodist frame.
• Early in the 53rd minute, the Falcons set up a corner kick opportunity. The original insertion was cleared out of the box but the Falcons' Sophia Griffin corralled the ball just above the arc at the top of the box and ripped a shot into the upper, left corner to square the game at 1-1.
• Action was tilted downhill for Pfeiffer after that equalizing goal as it rang up 12 shots to just three by the Monarchs.
• In total, the Falcons accumulated 14 shots during the second 45 minutes, keeping Hunt busy. She gobbled up six saves including game-saving stops at 83:56, 86:56 and with just 10 seconds left in regulation time.
• Pfeiffer would score the game-winner 2:38 into the overtime period when a service into the box from 20 yards out glanced off the gloves of Methodist Hunt and Meredith Manson was able to tap in an easy shot into the open left side of the frame to end the game.
• Hunt would finish the game with eight saves while her counterpart from Pfeiffer, Kaley Hyatt, would earn the win after making one stop.

NEXT UP

• Methodist travels to Raleigh for a conference game against William Peace on Tuesday afternoon.
• Pfeiffer plays at Greensboro College on Wednesday night.