RUSTON – A total of 110 minutes could not decide a winner on Friday night as Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss ended in a 1-1 tie at Robert Mack Caruthers Field.
 
LA Tech (5-7-2, 1-3-1 C-USA) struck first in the 16th minute as they were pushing forward into their attacking third.  The back line pressed forward as well with Josie Studer dumping the ball off to fellow defender Valeria Rios who took a touch and sent a rocket inside the far post for the goal. 
 
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Lady Techsters going into halftime, and was nearly doubled early in the second half when a breakaway led to Lauren Egbuloniu having a 1v1 opportunity, but the keeper came off her line and saved the shot to keep Southern Miss (6-3-2, 2-1-2 C-USA) within striking distance.
 
The save proved to be big for the visiting team as the Golden Eagles equalized in the 61st minute when Alice Campos found space just outside the box and sent a shot through traffic that found the back of the net.  
 
It was a series of close chances for both squads with LA Tech having a 5-2 shot advantage in the 20 minutes of overtime, but the match ended in a draw giving each team one point in the league standings.
 
QUOTABLES
Interim head coach Steve Voltz
 
"It was a really good battle between two quality teams.  The players have really bought into what we are doing.  They are battling.  To be fair, we had a couple of looks in the second half.  Overall, I think a 1-1 draw is fair.  I was very pleased with our effort.  We have been kind of a patchwork.  We felt like we could have gotten the three points, but one bounce of the ball the other way we are disappointed.  We will take the point and then it is on to the next one."
 
NOTABLES

• LA Tech now has four points in the conference, which puts them alone in sixth in the league standings with three C-USA matches remaining.
• With the 1-1 draw, LA Tech now leads the all-time series over Southern Miss, 7-2-3.It was the fourth match in the series to go into overtime.The previous two ties were scoreless draws in 2011 and 2014.
• LA Tech remains unbeaten against USM in Ruston, improving to 5-0-1.
• Valeria Rios scored her first career goal as a Lady Techster.
• Josie Studer was credited with an assist, the first of her career.
• Libe Banuelos registered four saves in the draw, improving to 3-5-2 in net this season.
• 21 of LA Tech's 27 goals scored this season have come in the first half.

UP NEXT
LA Tech heads to San Antonio, Texas to take on UTSA on Thursday, Oct. 14.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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