The WSU women’s soccer team opened their season with a scoreless double overtime draw against No. 19 Minnesota Friday night in Pullman. 

“Obviously, you want to get the win, but that’s a very good side over there,” WSU Head Coach Todd Shulenberger said. “Getting a tie against a nationally-ranked team and the amount of freshmen we played tonight and the situations, they had to become grown up tonight.”

Despite being held scoreless, the Cougs threatened early and often. In the 19th minute, sophomore forward Morgan Weaver ripped a shot from 25 yards that bounced off the left post.

Minnesota outshot the Cougars 14 to nine. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Ella Dederick made three saves including a diving save in the 55th minute to keep the game level.

In the 110th minute, Weaver dribbled through the Golden Gopher defense and shot wide left from the top of the box for the last opportunity of the game.

“We grew a lot tonight. A tie to [the players] probably isn’t great, but deep down to me a tie is good to me and we’ll grow from there,” Shulenberger said.

WSU’s veteran defense, despite giving up eight shots in the second half, locked down the Minnesota offense in overtime, allowing only one shot.

“I think it’s a good starting point as a team because we had a lot of good chances, and we really fought hard out there and worked our butts off,” said Jordan Branch, a senior defender and team captain.

Five freshmen made appearances for the Cougars on Friday, a point that excited both Shulenberger and Branch about the future of their team. But they indicated the team still has things to work on for the weeks ahead.

“I think for the team we’re looking to work on our possession a little bit,” Branch said. “Today, we had a lot of fight and we played really good defense, but I think our next step is definitely possession and obviously scoring goals.”

The Cougar’s play Saint Mary’s College on Friday in Pullman.