PHOTO BY: KAYLA BEATTY Midfielder Jennifer Miller dribbles the ball during an NCAA college soccer game on Thursday.
Sophomore midfielder Gretchen Harknett scored her second goal of the season Thursday night to help Ole Miss (6-2-3, 1-0-2 SEC) rally to play Arkansas (5-2-3, 1-0-1 SEC) to a 1-1 draw at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium on the SEC Network.
Harknett took a deflected ball at the top of the box and struck it well, sending a high, arcing shot into the goal high over the outstretched hands of a leaping keeper in the 69th minute to tie the game as Ole Miss rallied from a goal deficit against the Razorbacks.
The goal came in a flurry of offensive pressure by the Rebels. The Rebels looked to get a second shot off in a stretch of a little over a minute in the box, but the ball played by junior midfielder Jennifer Miller was deflected and skipped across the grass to the top of the box where Harknett was waiting.
The sophomore settled and drilled the shot for the tying goal as the score held through two overtimes on the way to the third draw of the year for both teams.
“It was a big goal, especially with the way the game was going,” said Ole Miss head coach Matthew Mott. “We had created some good chances, were defending hard and deserved a goal in there. She took it really well, and the team played hard all night. Arkansas is a good team, and it was an SEC battle. We’ll take the draw and get ready now for Texas A&M on Sunday.”
The two teams battled hard through the early minutes of the game in what would prove to be a physical battle all night with the two teams combining for 23 fouls.
Arkansas got on the board in the 15th minute when sophomore midfielder Claire Kelly took a shot in the box that was deflected by the Rebels’ senior goalkeeper Kelly McCormick in goal. In the scramble for the ball following the deflection,sophomore defender Alexandra Fischer found the ball in the box and fired it into the net for the Razorback goal.
The score would stand at 1-0 in favor of the Razorbacks at the half despite both teams posting seven shots in the period. The difference coming on the lone goal as Arkansas held four saves to the Rebels’ three saves in the half.
Ole Miss took the field with a renewed sense of energy in the second half, leading to the Rebels’ goal from Harknett in the 69th minute.
At the end of regulation, the score remained 1-1 with both teams recording 12 shots for the night. That continued through the first overtime period with each team recording a shot but neither team capitalizing with a golden goal.
Ole Miss looked to break the stalemate in the second overtime period, firing off three shots to the Razorbacks’ one, but again, the Arkansas keeper made a pair of saves to keep the game knotted 1-1 at the end of the match.
The Rebels return to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting No. 10 Texas A&M at 1 p.m. at the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium.
