West Lafayette, Ind. ? Freshman Ingrid Vidal’s golden goal in the 98th minute lifted Kansas University to a 1-0 overtime soccer victory against Purdue on Sunday at the Boilermaker Challenge.
It was KU’s first shutout of the season and the Jayhawks’ first overtime win since recording a 1-0 victory versus Missouri State on Sept. 18, 2007.
KU improved to 6-2. Purdue fell to 2-5-1.
Both teams, which were sporting black armbands in tribute to 9/11, went scoreless through 90 minutes of regulation time to force a sudden-death overtime period.
With time expiring, KU sophomore Shannon Renner earned a free kick following a Purdue foul. Renner served the ball up toward the goal, where sophomore Caroline Kastor headed the ball deeper into the box. Vidal beat her defender to the ball and flicked it over the goalkeeper’s head, and it eventually bounced past the goal line.
Vidal’s score was her fifth in the last five games, while Kastor picked up her fifth assist on the season.
“I thought it was a big-time gut check for us,” Kansas head coach Mark Francis said. “The game Friday (against Dayton)was tough. On the scoreboard, it was our worse loss this season. I challenged the team before the game to see how we would come back after a little bit of adversity on Friday. I thought the first 20 minutes we were a little bit sluggish but after that, in the second half and overtime, I thought we definitely had the better of it.”
Supporting the Jayhawks’ offensive efforts was Kat Liebetrau in goal. The junior made a season-high 11 saves, including eight in the second half. She also made two key stops at point-blank range during overtime as she improved to 3-1 between the posts.
“I thought defensively today, all the girls who played in the back did a great job,” Francis said of the KU defenders. “Kat (Liebetrau) made a couple of key plays for us so that was huge.”
KU will host Florida on Sunday. Match time is 1 p.m. at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
