SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 2, Eastern Kentucky 0
Austin Peay 1, @SIUE 0
@UT Martin 1, Morehead State 1
Southeast Missouri 1, @Belmont 0
@Jacksonville State 3, Eastern Illinois 1
MURRAY STATE 2, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers pushed their home win streak to seven in a 2-0 win over the Eastern Kentucky Colonels in Ohio Valley Conference women's soccer at Cutchin Field in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (8-7, 4-2 OVC) got on the board first in the 23rd minute when Bronagh Kerins scored her third goal of the season from 13 yards out off of Pavlina Nepokojova's seventh assist.
MSU kept the pressure on the Colonels (3-11-1, 1-4-1 OVC) and scored again in the 43rd minute when Harriet Withers had a corner kick. The kick settled in front of Taylor Stevens who threaded a pass to Taylor Richerson for her second goal of the season.
The Racer defense was air-tight all day in limiting the EKU attack. Racer goalkeeper Shelby Haworth stopped all four shots she faced to record her fifth shutout of the season. Additionally, MSU has four straight shutouts at home and haven't surrendered a goal on their home pitch since the Northern Kentucky game (Sept. 21) which marks a span of 420 minutes-28 seconds.
MSU scored first today and is 7-0 this season when they get on the board first.
MSU outshot EKU 19-7.
With four games remaining in the regular season, the Racers have moved into a tie for first place in the OVC with 12 points. The Racers are tied with SIUE as the Cougars had their first loss of league play Sunday to Austin Peay 1-0. Morehead State played a 1-1 tie at UT Martin. The Eagles are in third place with 11 points and the Skyhawks are in fourth place with 10 points.
AUSTIN PEAY 1, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - – SIUE women's soccer saw its first conference loss of the season in a 1-0 game against Austin Peay.
SIUE falls to 7-5-1 on the season and 4-1 in conference. This marks the first time this season that the Cougars have been shutout.
The first half ended in a scoreless tie, in which the Cougar defense allowed no shots from Austin Peay.
Gina Fabbro scored the lone goal for the Lady Govs in the 58th minute after getting past the goalkeeper and netting the ball from three yards out.
UT MARTIN 1, MOREHEAD STATE 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team and Morehead State have paired off in some highly contested contests in recent history with today’s match at Skyhawk Field being no different. In a game which saw an abundance of physical play, both teams played to a 1-1 tie after the double overtime contest concluded.
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The Skyhawks (9-5-1, 3-2-1 OVC) remained unbeaten at home but couldn’t come up with the late goal to lift the squad into a tie atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings with a victory today.
Overall the Skyhawks narrowly outshot the visiting Eagles by a margin on 21-19, with junior Rianna Jarrett leading the way with six shot attempts on the afternoon. Senior Dominika Conc joined Jarrett with four attempts of her own, leading the squad with three shots on goal. The Skyhawks lone goal of the afternoon came of the foot of freshman Olivia Bohlman just over three minutes after checking into the game.
Goalkeeper Mariah Klenke remained active between the posts, tallying eight saves while allowing just one goal in 110 minutes of play.
Morehead State (8-3-5, 3-1-2 OVC) was led by the play of reigning OVC Offensive Player of the Year Jade Flory with four shot attempts and the team’s lone goal on the afternoon. Caity Fox also tallied four shot attempts on the day while Kelsey Patera notched an assist on Flory’s goal. Goalkeeper Elizabeth Floyd would allow one goal while tallying seven saves in 110 minutes.
A chipppy game which saw 26 fouls called and four yellow cards issued saw its first scoring opportunity come and go in the 12th minute. On a corner kick lobbed into the box by Ellie Myrick, Jarrett would put a great effort into a header which would sail just over the crossbar to end the threat.
Another scoring chance for the Skyhawks would present itself in the 29th minute as another corner, this time by Conc, found Jarrett who headed the ball into the crossbar, keeping the game at a scoreless tie.
The Skyhawks would finally get on the board in the 39th minute. A free kick off a Morehead State foul would find Sam Dunn who would fire a shot at goal, finding Floyd for the save. Jarrett would find a rebound from Floyd’s save, firing an attempt of her own before a deflection by Floyd once again would be punched in Bohlman at the goal. The goal was Bohlman’s second of the season, both of which coming from with two yards of the goal off a rebound.
Facing a 1-0 deficit, the Eagles would crank up the pressure in the second half and outshoot the Skyhawks 16-13 in the second half and two overtime periods. After another Skyhawk header would clank off the crossbar, the Eagles would outshoot the home team 9-5 in the final minutes before finding the game’s equalizer in the 87th minute of the match. Narrowly beating her defender following a cross from Patera, Flory would tie the game from five yards out for her 10th goal of the season.
Both teams would notch three saves a piece in the final minutes of regulation and the overtime periods, but would not find the back of the net, securing the eventual tie.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - -- Physical play headlined the matchup between Belmont women's soccer (4-5-4, 1-2-2 OVC) and visiting Southeast Missouri State (6-5, 3-2 OVC) on Sunday afternoon at Rose Park. However, it would be a late penalty kick that would decide the result with the Redhawks taking the game, 1-0.
Both teams opened the contest at an almost frenzied pace, with a heavy back and forth battle. The Bruins seemed to keep the ball trapped in the attacking third for the first 15 minutes of the first half. BU did not let up in its hunt to score, outshooting SEMO, 10-5, in the first stanza alone. Senior Alison Alcott (Dallas, Texas) remained laser focused at the Redhawk goal, firing four free kicks, including one on goal.
BU maintained its offensive onslaught in the second half, keeping Southeast Missouri State on its heels for much of the 45 minutes. The Bruins raised the intensity to a fever pitch around the 63rd minute. Senior Taylor Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) served a cross to the awaiting sophomore Meg Howard (Brentwood, Tenn.), who just narrowly missed connecting. Belmont fans remained on their feet as a goal seemed impending. Unfortunately, the Bruins were unable to score despite several other great chances.
SEMO took the lead as Natasha Minor scored a penalty kick with just under five minutes left in regulation and managed to play keep away for the waning minutes to secure the win.
Belmont dominated the contest on both sides of the ball in both stanzas of play. BU held the advantage in shots, 19-10, and corner kicks, 4-3.
Smith led with a game-high five shots. Alcott followed with four. Junior Lindsey Espe (LaCañada, Calif.) was strong between the posts, logging six saves.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Senior Jackie Rush's name will appear in another category in the Jacksonville State soccer record book as she recorded a hat trick to lead the Gamecocks past Eastern Illinois, 3-1,on Sunday at the JSU Soccer Field.
The win leveled Jax State's overall mark at 7-7 and improved to 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The loss drops EIU to 2-10-2 overall and 1-4-1 in the league. The Panthers were playing their second match in as many days as the Friday contest at Tennessee Tech was moved to Saturday due to inclement weather.
All of the scoring came in the first 45 minutes as the Gamecocks rushed out to the 3-0 advantage in the first 32 minutes of the contest. Rush tallied the first two goals within an eight-minute span with the initial goal coming ten minutes deep in to the half. The Trophy Club, Texas-native headed a high post shot past EIU's Emily Hinton to put the Gamecocks on the scoreboard.
After receiving a free kick deep in EIU territory from Courtney Hurt, junior Kelsey Bright flicked the ball to Rush on the right side of the net for the result. The final JSU goal came in the 32nd minute as Rush carded her hat trick with another header into the back of the net. Rush turned in a match-high eight shots, including six on goal. Senior Lindsey Jackson finished with four shots, while Hurt and Bright were credited with three shots.
The last time a Jax State individual finished with a hat trick was Lindsay Boehmler on Sept. 23, 2008 against Alabama State. The hat trick is the first in since joining the OVC and the sixth hat trick of the season in the league. UT Martin's Rianna Jarrett recorded one last Friday versus Eastern Kentucky.
The Gamecocks had a 13-shot advantage over the Panthers as they tallied 23 total shots on the afternoon. JSU registered 15 of its final mark in the first half, while EIU had five shots in each period.
EIU avoided the shutout with a netted ball in the 38th minute. Madison Carter took advantage of an open net after a rebound shot from Lauren Hoppensteadt.