The women’s soccer team fought back from an early 0-2 deficit against non-conference rival San Jose State Sunday afternoon at Hornet Field, forcing two overtime periods before settling for a 2-2 tie.

The Spartans got off to a quick start against the generally stingy Hornet defense, scoring on a header off a free-kick in the 16th minute and again on a shot that hit the crossbar and glanced in at the 31-minute mark.

The Hornets have been experiencing problems scoring goals recently, so it was a pleasant surprise when Rebecca Phillips put one in following a pass to the top of the box from fellow sophomore Katie McCoy.

I came in pretty pumped up, and I’ve been wanting to score for such a long time, Phillips said with a laugh. Katie played me the perfect ball, and I just cut it and got a shot off.

Trailing 1-2 midway, Sac State’s defensive pressure began to crush the San Jose offensive effort. Senior defender Mandi Miller made a key stop in front of the goal, and freshman goalkeeper Jenny Lawrence made seven stops after the half, three in overtime.

San Jose played really well, especially on their set-pieces (corner and free-kicks). They have some 6-foot girls on the team, and they tower over us, Lawrence said. We’re a pretty small team, but we did really well against them.

Coach Katie Poynter recognized the match-up problems posed by the set-pieces, and the girls made the proper changes.

Defensively, we were giving up fouls in the corners, and when they’re a foot taller than us, that’s when they’re dangerous. They made that change and decided not to give up fouls in the second-half, Poynter stated. The strategy nullified the Spartan height advantage on set-piece kicks.

Yet still down by a goal, speedy sophomore Kayelyn Satkowski took a pass from senior Amber Dragomir and nailed the clutch goal, tying the score 2-2 in the 68th minute. Unfortunately, Sac State couldn’t capitalize on several scoring opportunities in the overtime periods.

The tie moved the Hornet’s record to 2-4-2 on the season.

Sac State’s next game is against Idaho on Tuesday at noon at Hornet Soccer Field.