Missouri State field hockey suffered a heart-breaking loss in double overtime to the previously winless Saint Joseph's Hawks, 5-4, in Evanston, Ill.

    After 15 scoreless minutes in the first overtime, the Hawks' Kellie Walter scored in the second minute of the second extra session to end it.  Off a Saint Joseph's penalty corner, MSU goalkeeper Steph Anderson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made her 19th save of the game only to have Walter take the rebound and fire a shot. Anderson could not make her 20th save, and the Bears fell to 2-6 on the season.

    It was a seesaw affair as the teams traded leads throughout regulation. The Bears came out showing no signs of a hangover from Saturday's 8-0 loss to Northwestern, as Alyssa Hile (Wildwood, Mo.) scored in the sixth minute for a 1-0 advantage.

    Saint Joseph's answered back less than three minutes later, only to have MSU's Melissa Lantz respond with an unassisted goal off a penalty corner. The goal came in the 28th minute.

    The Hawks were not deterred. They scored twice in two minutes to take a 3-2 lead with five minutes left to play in the first half.
That looked to be the halftime score until Kristen Pettey (San Diego, Calif.) snuck in a goal with four seconds remaining to knot the score at intermission.

    Pettey struck again after half, following the rebound from her own shot and putting it past the keeper to give the Bears a 4-3 lead in the 41st minute.

    But the Bears could not hold on. Anne Schreuders' goal with less than 12 minutes to play sent to the game to overtime where a depleted Bears team fell short. MSU lost freshman Reiann Stoute (Bridgetown, Barbados) and Jennifer Portell (Edwardsville, Ill.) to injuries. Stoute left in the first half with a hip flexor injury, and Portell left with a strained quadriceps.

    The Bears return to Plaster Field to begin MAC play September 25 against Kent State. Start time will be 4:00 p.m.