Box Score and Play-by-Play

MONROE, La. - Senior forward Kaity Mattsson delivered her eighth goal of the season in the sixth minute of overtime as the Nicholls State University women's soccer team (4-0-1) rallied to take a 3-2 win in a back-and-forth thriller at the University of Louisiana-Monroe (2-3) on Sunday afternoon.

The Colonels continue the best start to a season in school history.  Since the founding of the program in 1998, no Nicholls women's squad has been undefeated through the first five matches of the year.  After opening the season with a 0-0 double overtime tie at Prairie View, Nicholls has rattled off four consecutive victories, also a school record. Meanwhil, the Colonels have already tied the school's single season wins record; reached in 2003, 2006 and 2009. 

However, Nicholls would have to come from behind early, withstand a furious ULM comeback bid late, and deliver under pressure in overtime to keep its streak in tact.

It was the Warhawks who would strike first as Tiffany Bombard notched her first goal of the season at the 15:43 mark to stake ULM to a 1-0 lead.  It was the first goal of the year allowed by Colonel netminder Molly Mersereau.  The redshirt junior goalkeeper logged 270:43 of scoreless action before giving up her first of the year.

Fortunately, Nicholls quickly rebounded as the Colonel attack pressed forward and generated four shots over the next ten minutes before finally breaking through in the 26th minute.  A corner kick by junior midfielder Sam Etherington led to a header attempt in the box by Mattsson.  Mattsson's attempt was rejected by the crossbar, but junior midfielder Carolyn Noble gathered the rebound and buried her first goal of the year to tie the score at 1-1 at the 25:13 mark.

Nicholls stayed on the attack the rest of the half, outshooting the Warhawks 10-3 in the first half (16-12 on the day), and the Colonels broke through right before the half as freshman forward Alexandra Marino delivered her first career goal with a low runner past the keeper from just outside the box.  Marino's first career strike put Nicholls up 2-1 in the 40th minute.

The second half would prove to be a defensive struggle, even as ULM looked to press forward for a chance at getting back into the match.  Neither side could break through in the first 35 minutes of the second half, but ULM finally evened things up in the 81st minute on a goal by Alyssa Lopez.  The Colonel defense saw six more Warhawk shots during the second half, four of which were on net and saved by Mersereau, to preserve the tie and send the match to overtime.

Nicholls withstood a golden scoring chance by ULM as the Warhawks drew a corner kick in the second minute of overtime, but the resulting header attempt by the Warhawks went over the crossbar, and the Colonel defense blocked a shot in the fourth minute of the extra frame to keep the match tied.

The Colonels then capitalized on an opportunity of their own as Nicholls drew a corner kick on the other end at the start of the 96th minute.  Etherington's first corner attempt was knocked out of bounds by the ULM defense to set up another.  This time, Etherington's corner found Noble who set up Mattsson for her eighth goal of the season at the 95:54 mark.  Mattsson's goal was her Southland Conference leading eighth overall, and her league-leading third game-winning goal of the season.

The Nicholls defense shut down the ULM attack over the last four minutes to preserve the 3-2 win.

Nicholls will return to action on Friday Sept. 10 when they visit another in-state rival.  The Colonels will travel to UL-Lafayette for a 7 p.m. kickoff with the Cajuns.