The second overtime period was less than two minutes away from ending the same way it did at the 2018 Sun Belt championship.
Texas State (4-4-1, 0-1 Sun Belt) and South Alabama (6-2-1, 1-0) were knotted up at 0-0 inside Bobcat Stadium Thursday night in the first conference game of 2019. The Jaguars were issued a corner kick with 2:39 remaining in the match. The cross flew into a heavily crowded area of the box, but Texas State senior goalkeeper Heather Martin punched the ball out before a South Alabama player could get to it.
The ball fell out of bounds past the baseline, setting up the visitors for another corner kick. Jaguars freshman midfielder Gracie Wilson attempted another cross, this time connecting with junior forward Ana Helmert, who headed the ball in at the 1:56 mark to end the match, 1-0.
“I thought it was a great game between both, two top-notch teams. It was fun to be at and a fun atmosphere,” Bobcats head coach Kat Conner said. “I think it's a championship-level game. And it just stinks to come out on the losing side.”
Last season, the teams remained tied after the second overtime period in the league championship game on Nov. 4, 2018, forcing the match to go to penalty kicks. South Alabama came out on top, outshooting Texas State, 6-5.
The hosts were anxious to play the Sun Belt champions again and made their presence felt by creating multiple chances early in the game. Twenty one minutes into the first half, sophomore defender Addison Gaetano sent in a cross from the far left side of the pitch. The ball careened off the head of senior forward Kaylee Davis to find the back of the net, but Davis was flagged for being offsides.
The Bobcats kept the pressure on. They took five corner kicks in the first half without affording one to the visitors. But Texas State was never able to capitalize on any of them.
Both teams took two shots during the first 21 minutes of the second half before the match was delayed due to inclement weather.
“It's really hard (to play through a delay), to tell you the truth, because you want them not to get too stressed out about it. And then you want them to stay loose. And so you're hoping they don't get too loosey, but then you're hoping that they stay focused. So it's really difficult.”
The match resumed nearly 80 minutes later. Neither team scored before the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime.
“I thought we were knocking on the door, thought we were going to get ready to score one,” Conner said. “And I thought we were trying to knock down there. And unfortunately, just didn't get the opportunities that we needed to finish.”
Texas State took two shots while holding the Jaguars to none, but the team weren’t able to get either past the keeper during the period. The team took two more shots before Helmert’s game-winning goal.
The hosts ended the match with 10 corner kicks to the visitors' six, but were outshot 15-12. Davis led the Bobcats with the two shots on goal. Martin rejected six shots before the final score.
“I thought Heather had a magnificent performance, to tell you the truth,” Conner said. “And that's the hardest thing as a goalkeeper, they're all on top of you and you’re just trying to get to the ball and get there. And I know she was, she was actually diving on it. So it's just one of those things.”
Texas State will have more than a week off before traveling to Little Rock to face the Trojans (3-4-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. The team has lost four of its last five matches. Conner hopes the time away will help rejuvenate them.
