FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's soccer team suffered a tough loss in its first Sunshine State Conference road game of the season on Wednesday. The Eagles bested Nova Southeastern 19-16 in shots but fell to the Sharks 1-0 in overtime at the NSU Soccer Complex.
 
The loss puts the Eagles at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in league play, while the Sharks move to 5-4 on the year and 1-1 in the SSC.
 
The first half got off to a slow start as both teams combined for just one shot in the first 23 minutes of play. While the teams were fairly even in shots, with ERAU tallying seven and NSU totaling six attempts in the frame, it was the Blue and Gold that proved to be the more dangerous offensive side late in the half. The Eagles recorded six of their seven first-half shots in the last 13 minutes of the frame and forced NSU goalkeeper Natalie Robayna to come up with five saves to keep ERAU off the board, resulting in a scoreless tie at the intermission.
 
The offense picked up for both teams in the second half with the Eagles holding an 11-8 advantage in shot attempts. Both Robayna and ERAU's Fanny Kristiansson, who entered the game at the start of the second half, came up with key saves, and at the end of regulation, the game was still scoreless resulting in extra time.
 
The first overtime period produced one NSU shot, which was saved by Kristiansson. Robayna returned the favor by hauling in Guro Naess Berge's attempt a minute into the second overtime period. Two minutes later, the ball fell to Emma Heikkila about 35 yards outside the box. Heikkila's low shot went off the post, but the rebound caught Kristiansson's leg as she dove in an attempt to make the save and the deflection went into the net to give the Sharks the win.

First, congrats to John and Nova," ERAU Head Coach Samantha Bohon said. "I was actually pretty happy with the effort and performance tonight. We had 19 shots and forced 10 saves, so we certainly had our chances to get the result. But, we had some adversity with injuries and sickness during the game that made us have to adjust and I thought the team stepped up to the challenge. We talked about not having regrets when we started the game. I know our players are upset we didn't finish our chances and come away with the win, but we showed great resiliency. It's just an unlucky way to end but we got better tonight."
 
The Eagles will look to rebound on Saturday when they host Lynn at the Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium at 6 p.m.