ENID, Oklahoma -- The Northern Oklahoma College Women’s Soccer team advanced on penalty kicks into the Region 2 Semifinals Thursday in Enid.
Rich Mountain College scored first in the second half, and it looked dire for the Mavericks until late in the game. Sofie Joergensen scored a late goal for Northern to send the game into overtime. Milica Bulatovic had the assist. Joergensen’s chipped the ball over the goalkeeper’s head, the ball hit the far post, and bounced back across the goal rolling on the goal line before crossing just before the Bucks goalkeeper could get to it. Neither team could score in the two ten-minute overtime periods sending the game into penalty kicks.
Maverick goalkeeper, Larissa Haagsma, stepped to the spot first for Northern and calmly placed the ball into the bottom left corner. The Bucks made their first shot as well. Janet Moreno was able to beat the keeper on the Mavs second shot. Rich Mountain made their second shot, and Cory Torres would take the Mavs third. As Torres approached the ball the referee blew his whistle to stop the play. Torres had to retake the shot, and the Bucks goalkeeper made the save, but the referee ruled that she had left her line too early forcing another attempt by Torres. Torres beat the keeper putting the Mavericks back up by one, but the Bucks would answer. Joergensen made the fourth shot for the Mavericks. Rich Mountain’s fourth shooter and Maverick goalkeeper Haagasma had already had a few tense moments with several collisions during the game. The Bucks shooter shot to Haagsma’s left and Haagsma made a diving save leaving the game in the hands of the Region 2 Player of the Year, Bulatovic. She blasted her shot past the Rich Mountain goalkeeper giving the Mavs the victory.
“I have to give it up to the girls,” said coach Michael DuRoy. “We have some tough girls on this team. Joergensen injured her ankle early in the game and was really hurting throughout. She came through for us when we needed it. I thought Cory Torres played her best game as a Mav today. She won a lot of balls in the air, and came through on her penalty kick after having to retake it. That is never easy. The penalties couldn’t have worked out better for us. One up with Bulatovic on the spot. She is a clutch player. We ...
