Junior Rachel Conway (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada/Forest Heights Collegiate) scored 24 seconds into the second overtime to give Radford a 1-0 win over Howard in the Highlanders’ season-opener Friday evening from Cupp Memorial Stadium.

Conway, who paced Radford (1-0) with a game-high five shots, lofted a shot from 25 yards out that easily cleared the outstretched arms of Bison (0-1) keeper Kyra Dickinson. Classmate Sahar Aflaki (Gainsville, Va./Battlefield) assisted on the golden goal.

“We played well tonight,” head coach Ben Sohrabi commented. “We connected passes and created several scoring opportunities. We just need to be able to finish.”

Dickinson made several big saves throughout the match and finished with eight to keep the Bison within striking distance.

“I want to give Howard a lot of credit tonight. They were a tough opponent to open the season with.”

Radford’s Che’ Brown (Manassas Park, Va./Manassas Park) stopped two long attempts by the Bison in the second stanza for her only saves of the contest. It was her 15th collegiate clean sheet, moving into third all-time in the program’s annals.

The Highlanders and Bison played a little over a 100 minutes of scoreless soccer before Conway’s strike.

In the first half, Radford had the best chance get on the board, but a late one-timer by Torii Johnson (Woodbridge, Va./Hylton) was stopped on a great reaction save by Dickinson.

The Highlanders started to put some pressure on Howard in the second half and after numerous runs and near misses, freshman Asyia Mitchell (Cary, N.C./Panther Creek) drew a foul in the box in the 65th minute. However, Dickinson came up big again when she stopped Conway’s penalty kick, as well as Conway’s rebound seconds later.

Dickinson continued to keep Howard in the game in the second half with three of her six saves after Conway’s back-to-back chances. She tipped a breakaway chance by sophomore Kara Nay (Montclair, Va./Forest Park) just wide with just over 10 minutes left.

Radford hits the road on Sunday, Aug. 19 when it travels to Charlottesville, Va. for a 2:00 p.m. contest against Virginia.