"We didn't get off to a great start" head coach Jim Blankenship said. "But, we showed some grit and some toughness after they scored and I was very proud of how we fought back from that point. Weck kept us in it and let us get settled in. It was a good result, it's not easy to win on the road against a quality opponent. Now we get ready for conference, they count now."
For starting goalkeepers, Blakenship sent junior Melissa Weck to start while Bimbi sent junior Kate Moran to counter.
In the first half, the Ramblers continued to put pressure on Weck as they repetitively kept getting shots on goal over and over, but the Yorba Linda kept fighting and had two saves in the first half.
Most of the shots were off the foot of senior Jenna Szczesny. Szczesny made 10 shots throughout the whole game, with three of them on goal.
On the other end, juniors Marjorie "Ma" Boilesen and Evdokia "Evi" Popadinova aka the A-SUN Legion of Doom, were getting shutdown in the first half from scoring and of course were continuing to be targeted.
Going into the second half, the Ramblers kept pressuring Weck, but then a yellow card was issued by Szczesny. After two mores saves from Weck, Loyola would get another yellow card from junior Ari Banks. After a corner kick from freshman Abby Swanson, the Downer's Grove native was able to give the Ramblers a 1-0 lead for her fourth goal of the season with an assist from junior Madison Laudeman.
It looked like the Eagles' chances of having their first loss was in sight until five minutes later when senior Holly Fritz saved the Eagles chances with her fifth goal of the season with assists from the A-SUN Legion of Doom. Boilesen and Popadinova's assists were their fourth (Boilesen) and fifth (Popadinova) of the season.
With 10 minutes left, Boilesen attempted to give the Eagles with her fourth goal, but the goal was overturned as an offside call. After several more shots from both teams, the match would go into overtime.
In the first overtime, their were only two kicks made by the Ramblers from Laudeman and Banks, but were unsuccessful and sent the game into double overtime.
After several fouls and offside calls to both teams, Banks would then receive her second yellow card, which would transition into a red card, thus ejecting her from the match. Banks ended up playing 106 minutes with one shot, but she will be suspended in the opening conference matchup against Northern Iowa.
The Eagles had one more attempt at winning the game of of a header from junior Lindsey Patton, but to no avail as the match ended in a draw.
Moran (3-5-1) had two saves in the draw, while Weck (6-0-2) had eight.
Additionally, five teams from the Power 5 Conference earned their first loss of the season: #2 FSU (7-1-1, lost to UNC), #11 Tennessee (6-1-1, lost to South Carolina), #18 Kansas (6-1-2, lost to #4 Texas A&M), Mississippi State (7-1, lost to #9 Auburn), and TCU (7-1-1, lost to Butler).
FGCU is now one of 13 teams remaining without a loss
Up next, the Eagles now prepare for A-SUN Conference play as they begin on the road in Jacksonville against JU and UNF.
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