Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women's soccer team opened their season with a 2-2 tie against MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University on Tuesday afternoon. Despite being down 2-0 at halftime, the Cougars were able to fight back to force a double overtime draw against the Pioneers.

MNU took the lead in the 20^th minute of the game when Riley Slack was able to slot a ball through the Cougars back line to Taryn McClendon for her third goal of the season. They were able to add to that lead late in the first half when Allison Rice beat the Columbia keeper on a feed from Amanda Hiebert.

Laurie Frew picked up right where she left off last season midway through the second half when she was able to finish a cross played in by Lucy Kingsley to cut the Pioneer lead to 2-1. Frew led the Cougars with 25 goals last season on her way to being named the AMC Player of the Year.

The Cougars tied the game late in the second half when freshman Kelsey Mirts took on several defenders and was able to sneak her shot just under the crossbar to send the game to overtime.

The Cougars carried their momentum into overtime as they were able to create several scoring opportunities including a point blank shot by Frew that was saved by the Pioneer keeper. Columbia had five total shots in the overtime period with two of them being on target.

Senior Flavia Rosado played the full 90 minutes in goal, posting one save.

The Cougars will take the field again on Thursday, September 1^st when they take on the University of Mobile (Ala.). Game time is set for 7 p.m. in Columbia, Mo. at R. Marvin Owens Field.