THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's soccer team held the lead for 51 minutes Sunday afternoon over the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, but ORU tied the match early in the second and netted the game winner in the first minute of double overtime to escape with a 2-1 win over the Colonels at the Nicholls Soccer Complex.

With the loss the Colonels fall to 5-10 on the year and 0-5 in the Southland Conference, while ORU improves to 10-4-2 and 4-1.

Freshman Spencer Valdespino led all players with five shots and three shots on goal in the match for Nicholls, followed by Jess Coates' two.

Both starting goalies had five saves on the afternoon, as Nicholls goalie Amanda Boylson (1-9) stopped two in the first and three in the second, while ORU's Helen Erb (9-4-2) had three in the second and two in the first overtime.

In the 23rd minute of the game, Kristy Tatom netted her third goal of the season on a pass from Melissa Pestalozzi that put the Colonels up 1-0. For the first time since conference play began, the Colonels took a lead into the break even after a late corner kick by the Golden Eagles nearly tied the game up.

The Colonels were outshot by ORU 6-2 in the first, but the Golden Eagles only had two shots on goal with Boylson making both saves. The only other Nicholls player in a shot on the half was Valdespino, as Tatom's goal was the only shot on goal for the Colonels in the half.

Oral Roberts struck back in the 51st minute as Kayla Keller fired a shot off of the crossbar that bounced in to tie the match at one. The Golden Eagles would get nine shots in that second period to Nicholls' five.

In that first overtime period the Colonels were the aggressor, firing off three shots in the first ten minutes as ORU did not have any, leading into a tense final ten that could lead into at the very least a tie. However, a minute into the last overtime period Golden Eagles player Jennifer Abernathy lobbed a pass over the Nicholls defense to Megan Giles who fired a shot past Boylson to end the match giving ORU the win.

The Colonels return to action next weekend, taking on the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears in Conway on Friday.

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