BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 19, 2015) â€" After playing into double overtime against the Bulldogs last season, the Milligan College women's soccer team did so again this season, putting up a 2-2 draw at Union College Saturday afternoon at Williamson Stadium.
 
The Buffaloes (2-3-1 overall) have continued to take steps in the right direction after losing three of their first four matches of the season, and are now 1-0-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference after their second overtime match of the season and first tie. The Bulldogs moved to 4-2-1 and 0-1-1.
 
Brittany Davis scored twice for the Buffs on four shots, and freshman Madison Thomas added two, while Charlotte Stephens made eight saves to finish one stop short of her career high for the second time this season.
 
Milligan's seven shots on the match, each of which were on goal, were spread out throughout all 110 minutes, while Union put up 17 shots (10 on goal) and was able to put together streaks of five consecutive shots in the first half and seven in the second to put the pressure on the Buffs defense.
 
The first 43 minutes of the match were controlled by Union as they outshot the Buffs 6-3 and had four more corner kick opportunities (5-1), but the Buffs backline stayed together and started a number of strong and quick counter-attacks, and Stephens made three saves to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
 
With the first half winding down and both teams tiring in the heat, another Milligan counter-attack led to a deflection off the Union goalkeeper Kendall Ellington into the waiting Davis who finished with her first goal of the season in the 44th minute to put the Buffs up 1-0 at the break.
 
13 minutes into the second half, Union scored twice in a two minute span when Jessica Austin scored on a breakaway with three defenders on her and Sharika Ingram scored on a header off of a corner kick from Madison Meyer.
 
Milligan did not get up a shot attempt in the second half until the 8:51 mark when after a Bulldog foul, Sami Joy sent a free kick across the field to Taylor Hatmaker who delivered the ball into the box where Amy Olvera jumped up to head the ball into the path of Davis who finished with a score for her second goal.
 
The Buffs had their best chance to win in regulation just under the five-minute mark when Thomas broke free to go one-on-one against the Union goalie from point-blank range, but kicked it right into the waiting hands of Ellington.
 
Milligan's final chance of regulation came with 36 seconds left when Thomas again had an opportunity after boxing out her defender to control the ball and then dribbled just a little bit too close to the corner of the goal, taking away her angle to score and forcing her to again deliver a shot straight at Ellington.
 
In the first overtime period, Milligan had a close chance to win it when a corner kick by Christine Hardin with just under 1:45 left found Joy who tried to head it in but had it stolen from Ellington who took it right off the top of Joy's head.
 
The second overtime saw Milligan with two more close shots to win it as a free kick from Joy after a foul by Union at the five-minute mark sailed high, and then a shot by Davis one minute and 20 seconds later was stopped by Ellington. Overall in the second overtime, Milligan's defense held the Bulldogs to no shots and no corner kicks.
 
Next up, Milligan returns home to Anglin Field on Sept. 23 to welcome the Tornado of King University and begin a four-match home stand.