Coming off of a three-game win streak that included five goals, Missouri could have been forgiven for thinking that its offensive woes had been put to bed. On Thursday night in Athens, Georgia, however, that same inability to finish on chances came back to haunt the Tigers once again.
Missouri (4-4-2) doubled up the Georgia Bulldogs (4-3-3) in shots on goal, 8-4, and dominated play for much of the second half of regulation, but couldn’t find its way onto the scoreboard in a 0-0 draw.
Midfielder Cassidy Nurnberger had Missouri’s best chance of the game in the 60th minute. After a loose ball in the Georgia box landed at her feet, the sophomore found herself unmarked and with a clear shot at goal from about six yards out. Perhaps surprised at the sudden opportunity, Nurnberger didn’t get a clean hit on the ball, knocking it into more traffic and losing possession.
Goalkeeper Emory Wegener was crucial for the Bulldogs throughout the second half. The 5-foot-7 freshman asserted herself all night, leaping above taller players and fighting her way through crowds to make saves. While she wasn’t called upon to make any highlight stops, she kept the ball out of danger in her box on numerous occasions.
In the 72nd minute, during a rare Georgia attack, Missouri goalkeeper Kelsey Dossey ran forward to punch an incoming cross to safety and collided with the Bulldogs’ Katie Ralys. Appearing to sustain a blow to the head, Dossey remained down for some time and received medical attention, but remained in the game.
As the contest crept into overtime and beyond, Dossey and the Missouri defense kept the score level as Georgia began to control the game more on offense. In the 104th minute, Reagan Glisson charged into the Missouri box but was met by Tiger defender Anna Frick, who blocked her attempt at goal.
Frick was making her return from a minor knee injury that had kept her out of the Tigers’ last two games.
The rebound off of Glisson’s shot bounced to Georgia’s Dani Murguia, who was immediately slide tackled by Missouri’s Bella Alessi. From the ground, Murguia passed the ball to Ralys, whose shot was deflected into the arms of Dossey by Mizzou’s Rachel Hise.
Two minutes later, Georgia freshman Bella Ponzi forced a diving save from Dossey when she hit a one-time shot from the top of the box. After the ball found its way through traffic untouched, Dossey laid out and extended to her right to make the stop.
“I am very proud of my team tonight,” Missouri coach Bryan Blitz said in a press release. “They stuck together out there. They got a point on the road against a Georgia team that beat Arkansas 3-1 last week.”
The result leaves both teams with a 1-0-1 Southeastern Conference record. The conference standings are wide open through two games, with the league’s four ranked squads going 1-2-1 against unranked opposition on Thursday night. Missouri will host Vanderbilt, the only team to win both of its first two SEC games, on Sunday at Walton Stadium.
_Edited by Bennett Durando | bdurando@themaneater.com_
