EDWARDSVILLE – Sydney Christopher buried a shot in the box in the 89th minute Thursday as SIUE women's soccer defeated Indiana State 2-1 in its season opener at Ralph Korte Stadium.
Christopher scored from six yards out on the left side past ISU goalkeeper Tara Hoffman immediately after she made a save off a shot from SIUE's Mary Fetter.
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"I'm relieved we got the result in the end because we had a lot of chances, especially in the first half," said SIUE Head Coach Derek Burton.
SIUE opened the scoring quickly for the 2022 season when Grace Cobb scored on a pass from Christopher just 3:08 into the contest.
"Despite dominating in the first half, we didn't have a whole lot of great chances," said Burton. "In the second half, we had more chances because we were more aggressive with our shooting."
Burton credited Christopher, Cobb and Mario Haro with having top-notch games in the opener. SIUE outshot the Sycamores 10-6.
Taylor Spiller collected the win in goal for the Cougars, yielding only a penalty kick goal to Mackenzie Kent at 49:50.
Burton said ISU came out with more energy in the second half, but his team was able to respond in the end to the adversity.
"The early season games always lead to wanting more consistency over the course of 90 minutes," said Burton.
This homestand continues Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest against IUPUI.
