MONROE - The weather was cold and rainy, the field muddy, and the Cheesemakers did everything they could to beat future college goalkeeper Laura Atkinson of Oregon.

They beat her once, good enough for the first conference tie in the history of the Monroe girls soccer program, a 1-1 final after 2 hours and 15 minutes of play with two overtimes.

"It was a great start," head coach Miriam O'Neill said. "We really dominated the game. I was really pleased with how we played - our passing and offensive game."

Both teams finished the first half tied at 0-0, but Monroe spend the majority of the time on the offensive end.

The offensive pressure finally paid off 11 minutes into the second half. To open up the 51st minute, Monroe's Erin Solawetz was given a free kick from the left side. The senior midfielder flipped a pass over the initial Oregon wall and sophomore striker Kylee Ritschard headed the ball past Atkinson for the Cheesemakers' first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

"That was the greatest thing. It was a beautiful goal. We wanted to be scoring here in our first games, and Oregon is a good team," O'Neill said. "(Atkinson) is an exceptional goalie."

Monroe continued pounding the zone, but Oregon scored on a rare opportunity in the Cheesemakers' zone when senior forward Ana de la Llata put the ball through the net at the 73:38 mark.

"Oregon beat us last year in the 79th minute with a goal," O'Neill said. "Our defense has really grown over the past four years."

There was no defensive letdown Thursday, and Monroe applied offensive pressure in the closing minutes. Pam Lehman had an open shot while crossing at the top of the box, but put the ball a few feet over the net.

Time expired and both teams went into a sudden-death overtime. After another 10 minutes ran off the clock without a goal, there was a second overtime.

"We were really pounding the goal," O'Neill said.

Oregon's Kali Jahn was hurt in a three-person collision that included a teammate and Ritschard. Minutes later, Ritschard went down after yet another collision.

After a second scoreless overtime, Monroe felt the tie was worth the wait of two shots at season-openers that were postponed by the weather. O'Neill liked what she saw some from her offense, defense and first-time varsity players.

"Alyssa Studer is an exceptional sweeper. We had to make a few changes in our lineup after losing some players from last year. We have a bunch of girls back from last year, but we have a bunch of new varsity players," she said.

"We had a couple of freshman on the field playing for the first time. I think everyone played really well."

Monroe is scheduled to play at the Evansville Invite on Saturday.