The Owls opened ASUN Conference play with a 1-1 finish against USC Upstate after conceding an own goal in the final minute of the game.
The majority of action in Friday night’s competition took place in the final 10 minutes of regulation. The game remained scoreless for 87 minutes despite the Owls having eight shots on goal and hitting the crossbar twice.
Junior Carly Pressgrove finally opened the scoreline with a header from a Morgan Harrison corner kick in the 88th minute. This was Pressgrove’s first goal of the season.
“Morgan had a great ball in and it was a nice finish by Carly,” said head coach Benji Walton in a post-game interview. “We work on that all the time. I thought we had it wrapped up after that.”
It appeared that the Owls had pulled off the late victory in dramatic fashion. However, with a minute to go, confusion ensued after referees awarded USC Upstate a corner kick that KSU thought was a goal kick awarded to them.
The corner resulted in an own goal from the Owls, tying the game 1-1 with 34 seconds remaining. With the score tied up at the end of regulation, the game headed into overtime, but neither team would score, ending the game in a draw.
“It’s a tough game to swallow because I was very pleased with the way the team played,” Walton said. “I was disappointed how we gave up the goal. I felt like we deserved a better fate, but that’s soccer and we’ll have to regroup.”
The Owls outshot USC Upstate 19-7 but couldn’t seem to find the back of the net. They are now winless in their last three games and will look to steal a conference game on the road against Stetson University.
KSU continues ASUN Conference play against Stetson on Friday at 7 p.m.
