Huskers Grind Out 2-1 Overtime Win Over Texas A&M

San Antonio, Texas ? Freshman Brittany Timko made her first dynamic impact for the Nebraska soccer team on a chilly Thursday afternoon scoring twice to lead the Huskers to a 2-1 win over Texas A&M in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament at the Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio, Texas.

"This was great drama," Coach John Walker said. "Anytime these two teams meet, you get an affair and this game was no different."

Nebraska will face eighth-seeded Missouri, as the Tigers upset Big 12 regular-season champion Colorado, 2-0, in the first game of the day at 5 p.m., while Oklahoma State and Kansas will play in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

Timko put NU (12-6-1) on the board first at the 21:56 mark when Cooper played the ball up the left sideline and had a perfect look at the goal behind the defenders and shot a ball that deflected off the cross bar. Timko was there to pick it up and jammed it into the left back corner of the net past Aggie goalkeeper Kati Jo Spisak for her second goal of the season.

With about seven minutes remaining in the first half, Texas A&M, which fell to 12-5-2, had an outstanding opportunity to put the ball in the far side of the net, but NU junior Lindsey Ingram was there to knock the ball out of box and staved off an A&M run.

The Aggies controlled possession in the first period, but the Huskers took the 1-0 lead to halftime. Texas A&M posted 14 shots in the first period to Nebraska’s three.

"We did well," Walker said. "We scored the early goal and got more conservative." The Huskers played outstanding defense for the entire second half to hold onto the lead, until two and a half minutes remained and Texas A&M’s Becky Olson found a loose ball at the top of the box and knocked it over the head of NU goalkeeper Brooke Bredenberg from about 16 yards out to knot the score at 1-1.

"In the second half the defense was very good until we gave up the goal," Walker said. "After we lost the lead, we didn’t get down. A lot of times you will see a team lose the lead and they will give up and we never did."

The two teams continued to battle for the game-winning goal during the final two and a half minutes of regulation, but neither team was able to get a shot off and the game went into the first overtime period.

Just a minute and 20 seconds into the extra period Timko broke away from the entire A&M defense and went one-on-one with Spisak and came out on top as she chipped the ball over Spisak’s head and into the net for the win.

The Huskers got several more opportunities in the second half, as NU posted six shots, but A&M still held the shot advantage with eight in the second period.

The Aggies took a slight corner kick advantage, 3-2, for the game and just slightly edged the Huskers in shots on goal, 8-6.

Bredenberg finished the game with six saves and allowed one goal, while Spisak recorded four saves and allowed two NU goals.

Fox Sports Net will not carry the broadcast of the semifinal game, but will air the championship game on Sunday on a tape-delay basis.