Sept. 14, 2008

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis fought its way back from a 2-0 deficit to forge a 2-2 tie with Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

Junior Sally Sinclair tallied her first career goal at the 40:07 mark to slice the Vanderbilt lead in half. Stationed wide on the right flank, Sinclair took a pass from junior Kristen Sapienza and sent a serve that headed toward the goal and eluded surprised Vandy keeper Rachel Bachtel.

The Billikens (3-1-2) tallied the equalizer at 55:02. Junior Kelly Waeckerle escaped a Vanderbilt defender, dribbled inside the 18 and launched a 15-yarder that tucked its way inside the far post. The marker was Waeckerle's first of the season.

Saint Louis almost pulled out a dramatic victory at the end of the first overtime. On a re-start, junior Susan Frederickson sent the ball toward the penalty area. The Billikens managed three shots, with one hitting the crossbar, but could not find the back of the net.

SLU's 5-0 edge in shots in the second extra session gave the Bills a combined 8-0 shot advantage for the two overtimes and a 15-11 margin for the game. Bachtel was forced to make two more saves in the second overtime to preserve the tie for the Commodores.

Vandy (5-1-1) took a two-goal lead in the first half. Molly Kinsella opened the scoring at the 25:42 mark with her second goal of the year, drilling a 20-yard free kick from the left side into the net following a SLU hand-ball violation. Megan Forester made it 2-0 at 36:32 with her first goal of the season, taking a pass from Taylour Claxton and sending a shot from just inside the 18 on the left side that found the mark.

Bachtel made seven saves, while freshman Hannah Perry stopped six Vanderbilt shots on goal including four in the second half.

"Although we didn't win, there were some good things that came out of this game," head coach Tim Champion said. "The most important thing is that we came back and scored goals after we fell behind. We created a lot of chances late in the second half and in overtime and gave ourselves a chance to win. We came back and played well after a difficult start, and that's encouraging."

The Billikens play twice on the road this week, traveling to Toledo Friday for a 4 p.m. (CT) contest and to Northwestern Sunday for a 2:30 p.m. game.