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 It was a long drive home Sunday night for the Madison 56ers' Women's Premier Soccer League team.
The 56ers had seemingly beaten the Iowa Rush, with University of Wisconsin forward Lauren Cochlin scoring in the 88th minute of a scoreless match. But in a matter of seconds, they handed back two of those points.
The Rush scored a late equalizer to pull out a 1-1 draw in the Midwest Conference North Division match in Ankeny, Iowa. The teams are tied for second place with seven points apiece, six behind league-leading FC Milwaukee (4-1-1), but Madison (2-2-1) has two games in hand on Iowa (2-4-1).
"I thought we had it in hand," said 56ers coach John Reddan, who felt his team had the better of the play throughout the match but couldn't break through until Cochlin did so on a breakaway. "The other team kicked off, they went three passes and tucked one in. I think everybody just fell asleep, figured the game was won.
"It was a much better performance overall from us as a whole, and yet very disappointed in the results. (It) should have easily been three points but we allowed it to get away."
A day earlier, Madison gave up a first-half goal to WPSL newcomer Minnesota Kings FC in the teams' inaugural meeting and ended up losing 1-0 in St. Michael, Minn.
"I think we were a little slow out of the gates. We had a pretty poor, disconnected first half," said Reddan, adding that the lone goal came as the result of a giveaway by the 56ers in the midfield. "We had a very good second half, had some breakthroughs on goal, just didn't finish."
The 56ers' busy week started with a 3-1 loss to another WPSL newcomer, the Chicago Red Stars, on Wednesday night at Breese Stevens Field.
Madison fell behind early but equalized late in the first half on a penalty kick by Verona's Lindsey Holmes, a UW recruit for 2012, but the former Women's Professional Soccer team seized control after the break.
Former pro Michelle Weissenhofer scored twice and assisted on Julie Ewing's goal as Chicago handed the 56ers their first loss of the season.
"In the second half, they just turned up the intensity on us," Reddan said of the Red Stars, whose roster includes former Badgers Kara Kabellis and Elise Weber and UW-Milwaukee goalkeeper Jamie Forbes. "They are a very, very good team. ... We were chasing shadows, to some degree."
Madison is back in action Wednesday night against the Red Stars (2-1-0) in Oakbrook, Ill. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Both Chicago teams, the Red Stars and Eclipse Select (1-1-1), have seven matches left before the season ends July 12.
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