SPRINGFIELD – A late game Missouri State rally drew the Bears women's soccer team (1-2-1) within one goal with under five minutes left to play, but Tulsa (2-1-1) hung on and secured the victory Sunday afternoon, 3-2.
 
The first two goals of the match came both from penalty kicks, with Tulsa striking first in the seventh minute, and sophomore forward Grace O'Keefe responding with a PK goal of her own for Missouri State in the 29^th minute.
 
O'Keefe was all over the stat sheet , registering one goal and one assist alongside three shots, all of them on goal. She also failed to see the bench, playing the full 90 minutes.
 
After the Bears tied the score at 1-1, a pair of Tulsa goals put the Golden Hurricane up 3-1. Tulsa held a two goal advantage until the 85^th minute, when a goal by freshman forward Riley Smith (assisted by O'Keefe) drew the Bears within one score.
 
The last ten minutes of the match saw Missouri State overtake much of the Hurricane momentum. A new formation implemented by head coach Kirk Nelson late in the game gave the Bears a much needed spark.
 
"In the last 10 minutes, we were down two goals, and we obviously wanted to equalize. So, we changed our formation to a 3-3-4," Nelson said. "We put numbers forward and played a little bit more direct, and that's what resulted in the goal and a couple of corner kicks to almost equalize in the end."
 
Despite almost doubling Tulsa's shots at 14-8, the clock ran out on the Bears to halt the late comeback.
 
Missouri State caps off its three game home stand next Thursday at 7 p.m. where they'll face Saint Louis.