NEWBERG, Ore. - After eighty-plus minutes of relative calm, the final 27 minutes of play produced a flurry of activity but no resolution as the visiting Linfield College Wildcats and the George Fox University Bruins battled to a 1-1 double-overtime Northwest Conference women's soccer standoff Saturday afternoon here at the Austin Sports Complex.

Linfield, the conference leader coming into the contest, was playing without forward Emily Fellows, the league's top scorer who is out with a leg injury.  The Wildcats still controlled the offensive action for the most part, out-shooting the Bruins 13-1 in the first half, though most were long-range shots with only four on goal, all routine saves by George Fox keeper Alyssa Montero.  Linfield's best shot was its first only three-and-a-half minutes into the game when a line drive by Anna Sours hit the crossbar and bounced back.

The defenses held sway for most of the second half as well until the Wildcats broke through in the 83rd minute.  Jenna Quiring sent a free kick from just inside the center stripe all the way to the right side of the box to Sours, who headed it to Zoe Lansdorf, who then sent it toward the far post.  The shot might have been wide but it glanced off a Bruin defender and nestled just inside the pole for her second goal of the season at the 83:25 mark.

Just over a minute later, the Bruins' Shannon Olson was fouled in the box in a major collision with Linfield keeper Taylor Collinsworth as she lined up for a shot, resulting in a caution on the keeper and an arm injury to Olson that necessitated her removal from the game.  Melanie Gaither, the Bruins' top scorer, took the penalty kick and got just enough on the shot to sneak it past Collinsworth, who got a hand on it but could not deflect it enough. The game-tying goal was Gaither's sixth score of the season.

Linfield got four more shots in the final five minutes of regulation, three of them wide and the fourth, a sharp grounder by Marie Johansen with just under a minute left, a game-saving deflection by Montero with a dive to her left.  The Bruins controlled the first overtime, taking three shots on goal to one for the Wildcats, but Collinsworth made fine saves on two good shots by Gaither and one by Esther Harder.  Worn down by the frentic pace of the preceding 20 minutes, only one shot was taken in the final extra period, that by Linfield's Christine Tamamoto, and it was blocked.

The Wildcats finished with 33 total shots, 12 on goal, to 10 and five for the Bruins.  Linfield also held a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks.  Montero ended with 11 saves in all, while Collinsworth stopped four shots.

NEXT:  George Fox (1-4-3, NWC 1-2-1) returns to action next Saturday with a visit to the pre-season conference favorite University of Puget Sound for a 12:00 noon match ... Linfield (5-1-1, NWC 2-0-1) hosts Willamette University Sunday at noon.