Women’s Soccer: Lovera golden goal gives Northwestern season-opening victory over VCU
Nandi Mehta goes for the ball. The graduate midfielder assisted on Brenna Lovera’s game-winning overtime goal to give Northwestern a victory in its first game of the season.
August 20, 2016
It took extra time to do it, but Northwestern has started its season off on the right foot.
An overtime goal by sophomore forward Brenna Lovera opened the Wildcats’ (1-0-0) season with a 1-0 victory over VCU (0-1-0).
Graduate midfielder Nandi Mehta fed Lovera in the box in the 98th minute and Lovera slotted home the goal from 10 yards out to secure the victory over the Rams in the sudden-death overtime.
NU’s defense picked up where it left off last season. After setting a school record with 12 shutouts last year, the Cats stifled VCU’s offense to start the season with a clean sheet. The Rams were held to one shot on goal, a 70th-minute effort from forward Julia Suarez that junior goalkeeper Lauren Clem saved.
On the other end, NU was without junior forward Michelle Manning and failed to put away the chances it generated in her absence, leading to a 0-0 deadlock at the end of regulation that required overtime to settle.
The Cats return to action Sunday against James Madison.
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