Last-Minute Equalizer Lifts Avila to Draw with Park

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Park kept the Avila offense in check for about 89 minutes on Friday. But in that final minute, the Eagle offense finally capitalized on the pressure it had been building, and Kirryn Killingsworth and Amaris Sigler combined to score a goal off a free kick with 40 seconds remaining in regulation, lifting the Eagles (0-1-1) to a 1-1 draw against Park (0-0-1) on Friday evening at The Z.

The Pirates were playing their first game of the season but the visitors were the more in sync of the two teams, at least in the attacking half, in the first 45 minutes. Veterans attackers Lenvix Ochieng and Dragana Andonovski were especially dangerous, and Andonovski capitalized on a great first half when Park slid the ball from the left wing all the way over to the right on just two passes, and Andonovski walked right in for the game's opening goal in the 19^th minute.

Meanwhile, the Avila offense struggled to gain consistent entry. Morgan Pettlon finally recorded the Eagles' first shot attempt in the last ten minutes of the half, but it became an easy save for Felicitas Mueller, and the Pirates took their 1-0 lead into halftime.

Park seemed to ease off the pressure at times in the second half, but after the Pirates had so much success moving the ball and generating chances in the first 30 minutes of the game, the Eagle defense, to their full credit, really locked things down in the second half. The centerback tandem of Suzie Lopez and Adelynn Link once again played all 90 minutes for the Eagles, as did Sigler in a variety of roles, and Kenan Ebel finished with eight saves, a strong bounce-back outing after a challenging start to the season for the entire team on Sunday against Culver-Stockton.

Finally, the Eagles began to unlock their offense in the game's final 20 minutes. Avila had decent chances off headers from corners from both Killingsworth and Lopez that went wayward, and after Ebel made one more save on Makenzie Denham with 10 minutes left, Park made a quintet of substitutes in one final effort to shore up a win.

Instead, the Pirates committed a foul outside the box, and Killingsworth, who earned the foul, stepped up to take the free kick about 25 yards from goal. Killingsworth has had a knack for late-game spot kick heroics in her Avila career, and she delivered once again in a clutch situation: she blasted her right-footed kick high towards the target and Mueller sprawled back to push the ball behind her. But it didn't go over the net for a corner – instead, the ball dropped right back down underneath the crossbar, and Sigler crashed right in at the far post to push the ball into the open cage, tying the score with only 40 seconds left to play.

Park blasted a shot half the length of the field immediately off the ensuing restart, but Ebel handled it, and thanks to the NAIA's offseason rule change eliminating extra time in regular season games, the match ended in sudden thrilling fashion in a 1-1 deadlock.

Avila women's soccer will return to action for their first road game of the 2022 season this Sunday, August 28 at Baker, with kickoff scheduled for 7 PM. Stay tuned for details on how to watch and follow along, and be sure to join the conversation on social media by using the #EagleEmpire.