WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women’s soccer team dropped its season opener to Toledo in overtime Friday afternoon at the Varsity Soccer Complex.

Purdue is now 9-3-1 in home openers and suffered its first loss since dropping a 1-0 decision to Cal Poly in 2005. The Rockets lead the all-time series 1-0-1.

“I’m disappointed in the result,” head coach Robert Klatte said. “I think we performed very well in the back over the opening 90 minutes of the game and certainly created the opportunities to come away with a victory. Overall, we have to be better. We didn’t have the killer instinct that we needed. We didn’t have the overall work ethic for 94 minutes. We let the game ebb and flow and let them back in the game, and that’s something we have to get better. We have a young squad, and this was a learning experience for them. They are certainly frustrated and down, but we have another game here in 36 hours.”

Toledo (1-0) scored the game’s only goal on a penalty kick in the 94th minute.  Kristen Lynn capitalized on a handball inside the 18-yard box by knocking her shot just past the outstretched arms of Purdue goalkeeper Carianne Betts for the winning tally.

Purdue (0-1) outshot Toledo 16-9, including an 8-4 advantage on goal, but was unable to find the back of the net. The Boilermakers narrowly missed on several great scoring opportunities including in the 13th minute when senior defender Liz Secue connected on a pass to freshman forward Hadley Stuart behind the Rockets’ defense.  The Zionsville, Ind., native weaved her way into the 18-yard box, but her shot was cleared wide of the goal by a Toledo defender.

Purdue continued to control the ball early on, leading to a scoring opportunity for Lauren Montenegro in the 17th minute. The junior midfielder got by her defender and took a quick shot from nine yards out, but Toledo goalkeeper Vicki Traven made a diving foot save to keep the score tied at zero. The Boilermakers kept up the attack and held a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal at the half.

Toledo had a great scoring opportunity in the 55th minute when Kristen Lynn outran the Purdue defense.  However, Secue made an unbelievable sliding stop 11 yards out to prevent the Rockets’ best scoring chance in regulation.  Secue also snuffed out another Toledo attack on goal later in the half to keep the score knotted at zero.

Purdue freshmen Shae Desmond, Mollie Kuramoto, and Hadley Stuart made the most of their collegiate debuts as each played more than half the game and had scoring opportunities.  Desmond and Stuart both had chances in the 71st minute, but Traven came up big on both occasions, stopping Stuart’s shot from 12 yards out into the lower right corner with a diving, fingertip save.

In the 80th minute, sophomore Jessica Warren shot a laser toward the top left corner of the net, but Traven was just able to make a diving save and knock the ball over the goal. That led to the fourth corner kick of the game for the Boilermakers, but Toledo once again kept the ball out of the net.