Colorado College weathered an early storm on Sunday, settled down and headed home still undefeated on the road this season.
In a physical battle that saw five cards issued in the first half, the Tigers earned a come-from-behind 1-1 tie with the University of Oklahoma on John Crain Field at the OU Soccer Complex in Norman.
CC, which won 3-0 at the University of Wyoming on Thursday, improved to 2-1-1 for the campaign, including a 1-0-1 mark away from home.
Both teams cashed in on penalty kicks in Sunday's match, with senior
Tiffany Brown scoring her second goal of the season for Colorado College at 31:56 to wipe out an early 1-0 lead for the Sooners.
Junior keeper
Caitlin Hulyo finished with a season high 11 saves, including two in the first overtime period, to preserve the deadlock.
"It was a physical, hotly contested game that had the feel of a conference match," said head coach
Geoff Bennett. "We had a game up at Wyoming on Thursday, then flew down here, and this was Oklahoma's only game of the week. When you factor in the travel, along with the wear and tear on our bodies, I'm proud of how we handled the situation today against a very much improved OU team that spent all week preparing for us."
Oklahoma wasted no time seizing momentum, hitting the post moments before grabbing its 1-0 lead just 3:51 in, then banging a header off the cross bar in the 15th minute of play.
But then the pendulum started to swing the other way. And, when senior defender Lauren Alkek took a red card with 6:29 left in the opening half, OU found itself a player down for the rest of the contest. The Sooners also received three of the four yellow cards. They were whistled for 18 fouls altogether, compared to 14 called against CC, which managed nine shots on goal including five by Brown.
Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn't get anything else past Oklahoma keeper Kelsey Devonshire, who made six of her eight saves in the second half.
CC resumes a four-game road stretch next weekend with a pair of matches at Utah State University and the University of Utah.
