Soccer season finally kicked off at CCU when the CCU women hosted the Yellowjackets from Montana State University-Billings at Trailblazer Stadium. These two teams met last season in a per-season match with the Cougars winning it 2-1, but this year was a slightly different story with the Cougars letting a one goal lead slip away late in the game. Ultimately the teams would play to a draw in double overtime.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The first half was largely controlled by the Cougars who dominated time of possession and led the shots count 4-3 after the first 45 minutes. Both team entered halftime scoreless despite good looks from each side.
The Yellowjackets came out of the locker room in the second half on fire and owned the ball for the first 10 minutes, but the Cougars would strike first. In the 64^th minute, defender Maddison Hogan netted the first CCU goal of the season, who was roughly 30 yards out when a corner kick was punched out of danger from the MSUB goalkeeper straight to Hogan who wasted no time returning the ball and putting her team up 1-0.
The Cougar defense was on lock down for the next 20 minutes until a clearance was taken by the Yellowjackets up the field and CCU keeper Ireland VanDyke was beaten to her left side trying to defend the shot one-on-one. The two overtimes would not be lacking in excitement with the two teams combining for six shots, two of which found their way on goal.

QUOTABLES: Head coach Tammy McPherson, "Considering we didn't have a good practice yesterday we got a good result. A tie is better than a loss, but a win is always better than both. We're learning early on that time and score need to be paid attention to so we play the right ball so we don't end up in a counter attack situation like that." On Maddison Hogan's goal coach had this to say, "She's a defender, but she steps up and scores big goals in big games. She is a goal scorer we can count on when we need one."
One of the Cougar captains, junior Maddison Hogan had this to say about her season opening goal, "That goal felt good, it is great to get off on the right foot for the season." And when asked about the game itself she said, "We had a lot of moments where we involved every single person on the field, it wasn't just a one-sided attack, we used all 11 players to get the ball up the field and that is the emphasis of what our team is about."

MATCH LEADERS: Maddison Hogan netted the Cougars lone goal on the day, while Stephanie Muchow led the team with five shots, two of which were on goal. CCU edged MSUB in total shots, 10-9, and corner kicks earned, 5-6.

UP NEXT: The Cougars will take the weekend off and return to Trailblazer Stadium on Monday, September 3, to take on the Wildcats from Wayne State College at 11:00 a.m.