The Lees-McRae College women’s soccer team played to a scoreless draw with Lincoln Memorial University on Tuesday afternoon, nearly netting the winner on several occasions.

Lees-McRae (5-2-1) outshot Lincoln Memorial (4-3-1) by a 23-15 margin, including a 21-11 advantage through the first 90 minutes. Freshman Meagan Thornton (Millville, N.J.) paced the Bobcats with seven attempts at goal, while sophomore MaryBeth Sullivan (Greensboro, N.C.) was credited with five shots. Rookie goalkeeper Kaitlyn Briggs (Oviedo, Fla.) made seven saves while playing the full 110 minutes, preserving her fifth straight clean sheet with several pivotal stops, as the Bobcats pushed their shutout streak to 560 minutes.

The Bobcats came out firing in the first half, putting three shots on frame within a 30-second span, including an attempt by Sullivan at the beginning of the 27th minute which was pulled off the line. Senior Mary Gibson (Hendersonville, Tenn.) nearly netted the breakthrough in the 36th minute, forcing a save from Lincoln Memorial’s Kayla Hanson to preserve the deadlock heading into the interval.

Gibson and fellow senior Mary Dorn (Shallotte, N.C.) forced another pair of saves in the 54th and 56th minutes, as Briggs was called upon to make five stops in the final 20 minutes of regulation. Perhaps the Bobcats’ best chance at the breakthrough came in the 88th minute, when Kaitlyn Kerrigan (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) was denied by the woodwork and Sullivan’s follow-up effort was pulled off the line to send the match into extra time.

Neither side could break the deadlock in extra time, with perhaps the best scoring chance of the additional periods coming in the 109th minute, when Dorn’s header sailed just over the bar off a corner from Kerrigan.

Lees-McRae returns to the pitch on Saturday when the Bobcats host Barton College in a Conference Carolinas matchup on Homecoming Weekend. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. on Tate Field.

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