SPRINGFIELD, IL – The University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) women's soccer team fought to a 1-1 draw with the University of Southern Indiana (USI) during Sunday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) matchup.

USI (4-2-4, 2-1-4) held a 1-0 lead over UIS (6-3-3, 3-3-2), but Regina Bolin delivered the equalizer with less than four minutes remining in regulation to keep the Prairie Stars in the match.

"I'm proud of the girls for fighting their way back into the game," UIS coach Erin Egolf said.

During the 10th minute of the match, Maggie Winter fired a shot for the Screaming Eagles that struck the post. Haley Rheinlander rebounded the shot and scored the lone goal for the Screaming Eagles. Among GLVC leaders, Rhinelander is tied for seventh in points (8) and goals (3) this season. Winter was credited with the assist.

"We went to sleep early on and allowed a silly goal."

USI tried to take a two-score lead 18 minutes into the match when Rheinlander fed Alexa Kelpe a through ball. Kelpe took the shot but UIS goalkeeper Courtney Johnson collected a one-handed save. The Prairie Stars had their best first-half opportunity in the 41st minute. Kara Cipolle had the ball at the right side of the field. After beating a USI defender on a spin move, Cipolle served the ball to Valentina Rodriguez, but USI goalkeeper Emily Hopkins gathered the ball first.

Taylor Mraz delivered a corner kick 47 minutes into the match. Maggie Juhlin prrduced the header, but the Screaming Eagles came up with the save. UIS nearly came away with a game-tying goal during the 73rd minute but was called offsides before the shot found the back of the net.

During the 87th minute, Kayla Meyer served a free kick, Juhlin headed the ball and Bolin redirected the header to knot the match at 1-all. Bolin notched her first goal of the season.

Entering golden-goal play, USI served a pass 98 minutes into the match to try to break the tie, but just overshot the serve. UIS had a good look when Karisa Rogers set up Meghan Delaney for a run on the ball, but Hopkins beat Delaney to the ball.

Neither team registered a shot on goal during the overtime periods. Both teams tallied one shot in the first overtime and UIS outshot USI 3-to-0 during the second overtime.

"We got unlucky with a few calls but we should have taken care of business, regardless."

Johnson faced two shots and collected one save while Hopkins sent away six of the seven shots she faced.

UIS turned in a 19-to-7 advantage over USI in shots and held a 7-to-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Juhlin contributed two shots on goal while the Prairie Stars received shots on target from Bolin, Delaney, Mraz, Emily Matsen and Amanda Meyer.

The Prairie Stars are currently in a three-way tie for ninth place in the GLVC standings, which has 11-of-15 teams with at least a .500 winning percentage. UIS has six games remaining in the regular season. The top eight teams in the GLVC standings qualify for the GLVC Tournament.

UIS goes head-to-head with Bellarmine University (3-2-3, 2-2-3) in a GLVC matchup next Friday at 3:55 p.m. (ET) in Louisville, KY. The Prairie Stars opposes the University of Indianapolis (5-3-1, 4-2-1) next Sunday at 12 p.m. (ET) in Indianapolis, IN to close out the conference week. Indianapolis is tied for fourth in the conference standings while Bellarmine is tied for ninth.

"With six games left, we sit in a competitive position and every game from here on out is going to be important. We have to get ourselves ready for a tough away weekend at Bellarmine and Indianapolis. I'm confident that the girls are ready to battle these last six games and give ourselves an opportunity to get in one of those top eight spots."

PRAIRIE STAR NOTES

Among UIS Division II career leaders, Bolin is tied for ninth in goals (4) and tied for 10th in points (10).