CHICAGO – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer wrapped up its four-game road stretch with a 1-1 draw at DePaul University on Thursday afternoon.
USI Women's Soccer (1-6-3) posted its first result in its first-ever game against a Big East Conference opponent. The Screaming Eagles grabbed the lead in the 51
st minute before DePaul (3-2-3) scored an equalizer with under two minutes to go.
Freshman midfielder
Shea Krakowski scored the second-half tally for the Screaming Eagles, registering her first career goal. Krakowski became the third freshman to score this season.
USI Women's Soccer fired seven shots and four on goal, while DePaul had 12 attempts but only five shots on goal.
The first 45 minutes on Thursday were a scoreless battle, as USI's defense turned away DePaul's attack and limited the Blue Demons to only one quality chance. The Screaming Eagles' best looks in the first half came early when freshman forward
Liza Anderson charged forward on the dribble for a shot, and later when senior forward
Eva Boer took a shot on goal that was saved. The two sides combined for eight shots in the opening half.
Krakowski's goal in the early minutes of the second half to put USI Women's Soccer up 1-0 came after a strong push by the Screaming Eagles into the attacking half that led to a throw-in. Krakowski headed the ball into the goal on assists from Boer and sophomore defender
Anna Depenbrock, who initiated the play with the throw-in. The scoring play gave Boer her second assist of the season, a team high, and it was Depenbrock's first helper of the season.
USI protected its one-goal advantage and kept creating chances late into the second half. With five minutes remaining, the Screaming Eagles won possession and moved toward the net to score another tally. However, a VAR review disallowed the potential second goal, keeping USI's lead at 1-0. Nearly four minutes later, with under two minutes left, DePaul scored the tying goal on a ricochet in the box to make it 1-1.
USI Women's Soccer returns to Strassweg Field for the first time in two weeks this Sunday, September 20, at 1 p.m., when the Screaming Eagles host Xavier University in USI's non-conference finale and their second straight match against a Big East Conference team. Sunday is Youth Soccer Day and will feature postgame autographs. Sunday's match is available with an ESPN+ subscription, with live stats and additional coverage on usiscreamingeagles.com.
