MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (October 2, 2009) – The West Virginia women’s soccer team held a second half lead before falling in overtime to eighth-ranked Notre Dame, 3-2, Friday evening in front of 1,382 fans at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

Forward Blake Miller, one of three Mountaineers battling the flu, came off the bench to score the go-ahead goal in the 49th minute on a long shot from 26 yards out. ND goalkeeper Kelsey Lysander stumbled and could not recover as Miller’s shot came hard inside the right post for the 2-1 lead.

The Fighting Irish tied the contest at 2-2 in the 65th minute on a goal from defender/midfielder Haley Ford. WVU goalkeeper Kerri Butler came off her line to break up a serve into the box, deflecting the ball in the air. Ford had position inside the six-yard box, connecting on a header into the back of the net.

Notre Dame’s Taylor Knack scored the golden goal after a scramble in the box less than a minute into overtime – her first goal of the season.

“We battled hard tonight and I think collectively, we let some soft goals go in tonight,” said WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown. “We scored two goals and we were up a goal, but we let them back in on a soft goal. We let them win on a softer goal. It was very disappointing that we let them come back on things we know we're better at.”

Forwards Lauren Fowlkes and Tereza Stastny paced the Irish offense with three shots each as Notre Dame held a 13-11 shot advantage.

Forward Melissa Henderson opened the scoring with a goal at the 4:24 mark on a shot from 12 yards out to give Notre Dame an early 1-0 lead.

WVU was led by Megan Mischler’s four shots, including a goal in the 39th minute. Mischler finished a pass from forward Chelsey Corroto, who made her first collegiate start, in front of the goal line to knot the score at 1-1.

“I think it's like baby steps with a young team. You do something really well, and then at a critical time, critical players maybe aren't stepping up to the challenge,” said Izzo-Brown. “We're banged up. We're sick. It wasn't even about that tonight though. It was about critical times, critical points and not eliminating soft goals. We are better than that.”

ND moves to 8-3-0 (4-0-0) on the season while WVU dips to 4-4-4 (1-2-1).

West Virginia returns to action with a home match against DePaul on Sunday, Oct. 4, at noon. Members of the Mountaineer Parents Club can redeem a coupon for discounted admission at the Dick Dlesk ticket window as part of the 2009 Fall Family Weekend.