In their conference home opener, the Dux soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-2 tie with the Rockets from Reeths-Puffer. The Rockets got on the board first to take an early 1-0 lead about 15 minutes into the match. It did not take long for the Dux to tie the game. Less than 5 minutes later, the Dux earned a corner kick on the right side. Izzy Schoenberg's driven ball found the head of Zoe Grant on the far post, he redirected the ball into the back of the net.

"Really proud of the resilience of our team tonight. Despite going down early, we stuck together and fought for one another, earning the equalizer which gave us confidence. It took us a little bit to adjust to their physical style of play, but Grant's goal helped settle us down and we controlled the run of play the remainder of the half." 

The Dux took a 2-1 lead into halftime. Amely Molina intercepted a pass in midfield, and laid the ball off to Tia Martinez how turned and fired a shot to the far post, past the diving Rocket keeper. 

"That second goal just goes to show how unselfish our team can be. Amely had a good look at goal, but saw Tia coming overlapping on the outside with a better shot and laid it off. Pretty cool when your outside back comes in to score a goal."

The second half was back and forth, with both teams battling for possession in the midfield. Despite outshooting the Rockets 12-5 for the game, the Dux could not extend their lead. The Rocket keeper made 5 or 6 spectacular diving and fingertip saves that kept them in the game.

The Rockets scored the equalizer with about 12 minutes left to go in the second half off of a corner kick. The Dux got to the ball first, but a Reeths-Puffer player outjumped the Dux defense and was able to redirect the rebound off of her head and into the back of the net.

"Overall, our kids had another solid outing tonight. Megan Drost earned her first start of the season in net making 3 saves, and the Dux defense (Tia Martinez, Anna Girman, Leanne Wyrick and Marielle Michmerhuizen) did a solid job of thwarting counter-attacks. Abby Winn, Amely Molina, Aaliyah, Ybarra, Keke Segura and Lauren Broersma helped maintain our presence in the midfield and matched the physicality of the Rockets throughout the match. Very pleased with our performance tonight against a good Reeths-Puffer team."

The Dux are 1-1-2 on the season, and 0-0-1 in the OK Green. They travel to Wyoming for another conference match on Thursday, before returning home to face St. Joe in non-conference action on Friday.