BROOKINGS – Two straight in two overtimes.
The Jackrabbits scored the only goal of the game in the second overtime in back-to-back Summit League matches as South Dakota State defeated South Dakota, 1-0, on a chilly Thursday evening at Fishback Soccer Park.
Leah Manuleleua – who scored the winning goal on Sunday against Denver – was the set-up person against the Coyotes, as she laid a pass out in front of Abigail Kastens near the top of the 18 and the freshman forward buried the ball into the top left of the net past USD keeper Parker Rytz for the win 6:07 to play in the second overtime.
The Jacks had dominated play all game – outshooting USD, 22-4, including a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal – but had come up empty until Kastens’ game winner. SDSU also had a 9-2 edge in corner kicks as Maggie Smith recorded one save for the in goal for the Jacks.
“I thought our team played really well for the duration of the game; the question was whether we were going to be able to find a goal or not,” said SDSU head coach Brock Thompson. “That’s a credit to USD – they defended really well and made it hard on us in a lot of ways – we had to settle for half-chances.
“In the second overtime, we played with two central strikers and I thought both Leah and Abigail were able to be dangerous; not just on the goal, but a time or two right before that.
“It’s a typical Summit League game; it’s a typical rivalry game,” Thompson said. “We talked about this after Denver; it was a game where you thought that one play was going to turn it and we were fortunate again that we created the chance to change the game. This is going to be kind of the story with every conference game we play, I think.”
The Jackrabbits improved to 9-4-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play while USD dropped to 7-5-2 and 2-2.
SDSU travels to Fargo on Sunday to face North Dakota State in a 1 p.m. Summit League match.
