McKendree University women's soccer senior defender Danielle Knutson (Maryville, IL/Collinsville) scored her first career goal to beat the the University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars in overtime 1-0 Friday in Springfield, Ill.
 
The Bearcats improve to 3-0 on the season. 
 
How It Happened 
After a slow, defensive battle in the first half, the offense picked up in the second half. Both teams had opportunities to open a lead in the game's final 10 minutes of regulation. Emma Knoebel (Maryville, IL/Collinsville) had a shot that was saved at the 83^rd minute, and UIS' Sierra Cenek had a shot hit off the crossbar in the 89^th minute.
 
After a scoreless 10 minutes of the first overtime period, Knutson would score the game-winning goal at the 101^st minute of the game off a corner kick. The assist came from Alynnah O'Leary (Collinsville, IL/Collinsville).
 
Behind The Boxscore 
-  McKendree had 13 shots on the day with five of them on goal. UIS had 11 shots with two of them on goal.
-  Morgan Cervera (Saint Peters, MO/Francis Howell Central) and O'Leary would lead the way in shots, combining for 10 of the teams 13 total.
-  In goal, Mercedes King (Troy, IL/Triad) would save two shots. This was her third consecutive shutout of the season and her third shutout in her McKendree career.
 
Coaches Quote
 
"I think we started off the game slow," McKendree head coach Tim Strange said. "It's a hard place to play with it being on grass. You can't pass the ball well because it bounces all over the place. They won a lot of 50/50 balls and played really hard. But you have to know how to win those types of games, and that's what it takes sometimes. In the last 20 minutes of regulation, and in overtime, we were playing strong. I am happy with the result, but it's a long season ahead."

Player Quote
"Going into overtime we knew what we had to do and knew that we wouldn't accept a tie after that long 90 minutes. So we left everything we had on the field," Knutson said. "Anna Stiffler (O'Fallon, MO/St. Dominic) did a great job to get us that corner and O'Leary had great placement with the ball. The coaches told me to go near post so that's what I did, and I was able to finish the shot."