NORTHFIELD, Minn. – On a crisp fall afternoon, the Carleton College women's soccer team managed a 1-1 draw against Saint Mary's University to kick off Homecoming week in Northfield. Rainey Tilley (Fy./South Pasadena, Calif./South Pasadena) scored the lone for the home team.
 
The Knights (7-2-3, 4-1-2 MIAC) went into overtime for their third consecutive game, but the Cardinals (6-6-1, 0-6-1 MIAC) buckled down and earned their first point of the conference season.
 
The game started off perfectly for Carleton, as Tilley scored one of the fastest goals in school history. After only 27 seconds had run off the clock, she got on the end of a Cate Patterson (Racine, Wis./Prairie School) through ball in the box and chipped the ball over the Cardinals' goalkeeper.
 
For the next 20 minutes the only thing that stopped the Knights from adding to their lead was the assistant referee's flag, as Patterson fed Tilley with two more through balls which she deposited in the back of the net. Unfortunately both were called back for offsides.
 
In the 23rd minute, Saint Mary's took advantage of a freekick opportunity when Jordyn Matthews controlled a set piece on the top of the box, and then did a 180 degree turn to volley the ball into the top left corner of the net for her MIAC-leading 13th goal of the season.
 
During the second half neither team managed to break the deadlock, but Carleton came agonizingly close with a handful of opportunities.
 
Patterson sent in a dangerous corner kick in the 47th minute, and in attempting to clear the ball a Cardinal's defender almost headed home an own-goal, but the clearance smacked the right post instead.
 
In the 58th minute, the Knights' press caused a turnover which Nora Mertz (Sr./Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) collected, but after sidestepping past a handful of defenders saw her shot skitter outside the left post.
 
As regulation time wound down, Carleton keeper Anna Roethler (Jr./St. Lois Park, Minn./St. Louis Park) made a huge save, diving to her left in the 82nd minute to snuff out a Saint Mary's counterattack.
 
In overtime, the Cardinals had a handful of opportunities to escape with a victory but were unable to put any of them on frame.
 
Carleton on the other hand managed to almost end the game in the 91st minute, but Annette Shumway's (So./Arlington, Va./Yorktown) shot from outside the box clanged off the crossbar before being cleared away.
 
Roethler finished the game with four saves—all after halftime—for the Knights, while Alexis Nguyen had five stops for Saint Mary's.
 
The result of the match dropped the Knights into third place in the conference standings pending the result of evening matches elsewhere in the MIAC.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton hits the road to take on Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 3:30 PM. That will be the second part of a doubleheader with the men's teams.