GOSHEN, Ind. — Megan Bower scored early and Lena Charles tallied late as Goshen College came back to earn a 2-2 women's soccer draw with the University of Saint Francis at the John Ingold Athletic Complex on Saturday.

Bower opened the scoring on a cross from Rachel Short-Miller. When the bouncing ball eluded its intended target, Bower cleaned up the proverbial mess with a shot from right of the penalty spot to give her team a 1-0 lead after 15:11.

That 1-0 score stood until halftime despite USF (5-5-2, 1-1-1) outshooting Goshen (6-4-2, 2-0-1) by a 12-4 margin, including 3-1 on target, in the opening stanza. But the Cougars roared back early in the second half, tying the game on a Hannah Elzinga rebound goal with 39:05 to play and taking their first lead when Mackenzie Starchevich scored off a through ball at the 35:01 mark.

Saint Francis finished regulation with a 22-10 shot edge, including a 4-1 margin in the 21-plus minutes after the go-ahead goal. But the Maple Leafs took three shots in the final 10 minutes, and the third made the difference. After GC was awarded a corner kick with 2:13 to play, Bower served the ball into the penalty box, where it was stopped from entering the goal by an errant Cougar paw.

With the clock stopped, 1:51 remaining in regulation, and USF down a player from the resulting red card, Charles converted from the penalty spot for her second goal of the season.

Neither team mustered much of an attack in the rest of regulation. Goshen took six of the eight shots in the 20 extra minutes, including two that were saved and one, from Rachel Short-Miller in the 99th minute, that rocketed off the crossbar.

The Cougars finished the game with 24 shots to Goshen's 16, although the hosts accounted for nine of the 14 tries on frame. USF was responsible for eight corners and seven fouls, out of the 13 total for the match in both cases.

Morgan Hamman made six saves for the Cougars; Natalie Thorne had three for Goshen. Ten Maple Leafs tried shots, paced by three from Bower. Elzinga and Starchevich each attempted five shots and put two on target for the guests.

The victory moves Goshen to 6-4-1 overall and 2-0-1 in Crossroads League play, which leaves the Maple Leafs in second place behind undefeated defending national champion Spring Arbor. The seven conference points through three matches are the most in program history, surpassing 2-1-0 starts (six points) in 1996 and 1997.

Even if head coach Scott Gloden's team loses its final six conference games, it would finish in a tie for the fourth-most conference points in the 21 seasons that GC has played CL women's soccer: the 1996 team went 4-2, the 1997 team was 3-4, the 2007 team was 2-4-2, and the 2006 side was 2-5-1. (Goshen finished the regular season 2-7 in 2013 before a forfeit after the season reversed a match to make the team 3-6.)

The Maple Leafs' road to the Crossroads League tournament does not get any easier, however: each of the six remaining games is on the road or against a team that has received national-ranking votes this season—or in two cases, both. Goshen visits no. 23 Marian at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Indianapolis.