In an overtime thriller between the top two teams in Atlantic Sun standings, Florida Gulf Coast University defeated Lipscomb women’s soccer 2-1 Friday night at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex.
This match determined which team would be in sole position of first place in the A-Sun and would be in a position to host the next A- Sun tournament.
Junior goalkeeper Anna Buhigas recently earned her third career A-Sun Defensive Player of the Week after shutting out both Jacksonville and North Florida.
FGCU junior mid-fielder Yazmin Velez beat Buhigas with her left foot in the 43rd minute off an assist from FGCU junior Ali Rogers to open the scoring.
It looked as if one goal would be all that FGCU would need until Lipscomb scored a shot by senior defender Alex Hickey, who had just entered the match as a sub, in the 79th minute.
The score remained 1-1 when the match went into overtime.
Buhigas, 2014 A-Sun Goalkeeper of the Year, found her matchup against FGCU junior forward Tabby Tindell, 2014 A-Sun Player of the year. This matchup is the one that ended the game.
Exactly seven minutes into the first overtime period, Tindell connected on a pass that sent a rocket into the upper-left corner of the net for the game winning goal.
“She made a great run, and was in the right place at the right time,” redshirt sophomore defender Niamh Rawlins said.
The Lady Bison’s next match is Sunday at the Lipscomb Soccer Complex against Stetson at 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics