Fantastic Finish

Lincoln ? Jessie Bruch’s goal with five seconds remaining in regulation lifted the Nebraska soccer team to a 3-2 victory over Oklahoma State Friday night at the Abbott Sports Complex.

Bruch’s goal at the 89:55 mark helped the Huskers improve to 10-3-1 on the season and remain a half-game behind Colorado, a 2-1 winner over Kansas earlier Friday.

"Oklahoma State has already beat Texas and tied Texas A&M, so they are a good team, there is no question about it," Coach John Walker said.

It looked like Nebraska had things well in hand in the first half, when they took an early 2-0 lead with less than fifteen minutes remaining in the period.

Freshman Ashley Carter scored the first goal of the contest at the 16:17 mark on a corner kick that Kari Hogan served into the box. Fifteen minutes later, the Huskers scored on another corner kick when junior Jenna Cooper sent the ball in from the other side of the field into perfect position for sophomore Pam Karakusis to head the ball into the back of the net for her first career goal. Karakusis played outstanding the midfield all night long and was in the right place at exactly the right time to give the Huskers the 2-0 lead.

Oklahoma State came back, however, proving that it would take more than two goals to stop its high-powered offense.

Jolene Schweitzer scored her 11th and 12th goals of the season in a span of 3:19 late in the first half to knot the game at 2-2 at the intermission.  Schweitzer registered the Cowgirls’ first goal of the night at the 41:28 mark when she took a fantastic pass from Adriane Radtke and put the ball past NU goalkeeper Brooke Bredenberg. Schweitzer didn’t stop there, beating the entire NU backline to go one-on-one with Bredenberg and nailed a shot into the back of the net with 13 seconds remaining in the half.

"Obviously when you give up two goals in the last three or four minutes of the half, it is very disappointing," Walker said. "In the first half they played really well, and we didn’t. We had issues all night long and weren’t very good defensively in the first half."

OSU carried the momentum into halftime and played aggressively in the second half, but the game looked like it would remain locked at 2-2 and go into overtime until Lindsey Ingram set Bruch up beautifully and the freshman finished the job for the second consecutive game.

"Jessie has done well," Walker said. "Both she and Ashley Carter and Brittany (Timko) and some of these players are going to go on to become top-notch players. Jessie gets in there and fights. This group has a good will. There is not much shortage in the effort department."

Bruch also notched the game winner last Friday night over Oklahoma in the 104th minute of the second overtime period.

"It was a team goal," Bruch said. "Lindsey played it back to me and it went through two defenders and I was just there. It felt good though."

Overall, Nebraska outshot Oklahoma State, 24-17, and took a small 15-12 margin in shots on goal.

Bredenberg improved to 9-2-1 on the season and recorded eight saves, while allowing two goals. OSU goalkeeper, Kathrin Lehmann, made 12 saves on the night and gave up three goals, recording only her second loss of the season.

The Huskers return to the Abbott sports Complex on Sunday, Oct. 19, when they host Kansas at 1 p.m. Sunday’s match against the Jayhawks will be NU’s final regular-season home contest, as the program will honor Christy Harms and Paige Phillips in pre-match ceremonies.