SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 2, Morehead State 1
@Tennessee Tech 2, Eastern Kentucky 0
@UT Martin 2, Eastern Illinois 1
Murray State 1, @Belmont 0
@Southeast Missouri 4, SIUE 1
JACKSONVILLE STATE 2, MOREHEAD STATE 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State erased a first half deficit with two goals in the final 20 minutes to maintain its chances of securing a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 2-1 win over Morehead State on Sunday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Field.
The win pushed the Gamecocks' OVC mark to 3-6 and collected three critical points in the league standings with the win. The second half comeback moved JSU's overall mark to 6-9-2 on the season. Jax State will wrap up the regular season on Sunday, October 22 with a trip to Cape Girardeau, Missouri to face Southeast Missouri. JSU will enter the SEMO match in the eighth spot tied Austin Peay, but would have the tiebreaker over APSU after downing the Govs earlier this season. Morehead State fell to 6-9-2 overall and 2-5-1 in OVC.a
After a tough 1-0 overtime setback on Friday to Eastern Kentucky, the Gamecocks bounced back with a dominating performance against the Eagles with an 18-5 shot advantage on Sunday and controlled the contest throughout. In the final 45 minutes, JSU out-shot MSU 10-1 and had eight on goal chances in the match.
The Eagles took the lead in the 23rd minute after a corner kick set piece was converted by Morgan Tresser. Cara Maher's send in found Tresser at the opposite post and she deposited it in the left corner. Tresser's header was one of four in the half by the Eagles.
MSU would nurse the advantage and thwart many JSU chances for the equalizer until the 70th minute. Sophomore Rachel Blanding and Emma Meadows put together a solid sequence of the give-and-go before Meadows centered the ball in the back of the net to even the match. The goal by Meadows was her second of the season and first since the Middle Tennessee contest on August 25.
Jax State kept the pressure on the Eagles the rest of the way before senior Kayla Thompson went 1-v-1 against MSU's Michelle Washburn before Thompson sent the ball to the right corner for the game winner. Playing in her final match at the JSU Soccer Field, Thompson's goal was the third of the season for the Brandon, Mississippi native and the eighth of her career. Thompson finished with three shots on the day. JSU was led by junior Madison Carruthers, who tallied five shots.
Thompson's run was set up by a ball off the foot of Blanding, who had a career high two assists.
Senior goalkeeper Caroline Robinson manned the nets for the final time on the home pitch and turned in three saves. Robinson is inching towards the program's all-time career saves mark of 306. The Hendersonville, Tennessee native is two saves away from atop the career saves chart.
TENNESSEE TECH 2, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - A three-point effort by Karigan Owens and another stellar effort by Tennessee Tech soccer team was the story Sunday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles took down Eastern Kentucky, 2-0, in the second to last match of the regular season. With the win, TTU (8-4-3, 5-1-3 OVC) runs its unbeaten streak to eight consecutive.
Coupled with a Murray State win at Belmont, the Golden Eagles enter the final weekend of the regular season in a tie for second place with EKU, holding the tiebreaker with the Colonels (8-4-4, 5-1-3) by virtue of Sunday's win. The top two finishers earn a bye straight to the OVC Tournament semifinals in early November.
Owens assisted on the first score and found the back of the net for the second Golden Eagle goal, both coming off corners to help pave the way for a Tech offense that collected its third two-goal output of the season.
Defensively, Tech carded its league-leading ninth shutout with its fourth-straight blanking, tying the 2000 Golden Eagle squad for the most shutouts in a row in program history. TTU has not allowed a goal in the last 487 minutes dating back to an Oct. 1 tilt with Austin Peay.
Tech wasted no time in jumping on the board, finding the back of the net just over six minutes into the contest. Karigan Owens lined up the first of nine TTU corners, slamming one through a crowd huddled inside the EKU box. Junior Molly Kafader emerged through traffic, knocking one off her head and into the back of the net for the Nashville native's first-career goal.
For Owens, the assist put the 5-foot-9 senior in sole possession of third place on the all-time career list, surpassing TTU Hall of Famer Jill Burns with her 17th assist in her Tech tenure.
A similar fate struck the Golden Eagles in the second half, this time splitting the pipes a mere nine minutes into closing stanza. Owens needed no aid in Tech's first corner of the period, as the La Grange, Ky. native curved a drive that just slipped past Eastern Kentucky's Anna Hall to put Tech ahead, 2-0.
The Golden Eagles doubled up the shot margin with a 12-6 edge, limiting the Colonels to just one try in the first half. Sophomores Dani Shartouny and Nora Vicsek boasted a match-high three shots apiece. Jordan Foster and Monica Rios led the Colonels with two attempts each.
Kari Naerdemann collected her league-leading ninth shutout of the season and 27th in her career. The Herne, Germany native was forced into making just one save. EKU's Anna Hall stopped four-of-six Tech attempts.
UT MARTIN 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - A flurry of shots in the second half paid off in a big way for the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team today, as two goals in the final six-plus minutes sent the Skyhawks to a 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Eastern Illinois in the 2017 home finale.
Battling through drizzling rain and chilly windy conditions, UT Martin outshot the visiting Panthers by a 14-2 margin in the second half to improve to 6-9-3 on the season (4-4-1 OVC). Today’s win officially earned an OVC Tournament spot for the Skyhawks, who are currently in fifth place in the league standings with one match remaining in the regular season.
Both of UT Martin’s goals came in the span of 40 seconds today as the Skyhawks fought back from a 1-0 deficit with some late match drama. In the 84th minute, Danae Kaldaridou was fouled in the box and knocked in the ensuing penalty kick for her team-leading seventh goal of the season. Just 40 seconds later, freshman Bella Roberts came away with the game-winning score after retrieving a loose ball from five yards out and finding the back of the net for the first goal of her career.
Eastern Illinois took advantage of the whipping 15 mph winds in the first half, as Kayla Stolfa bent a corner kick directly into the right edge of the goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute.
That would be the only goal that Skyhawk goalkeeper Erica Myers would concede, as she made five of her six saves in the first 45 minutes to keep UT Martin within striking distance.
Alice Adams (game-high five shot attempts) and Kaldaridou each accounted for shots on goal in the first half but Eastern Illinois escaped the first half holding a 1-0 advantage.
The Skyhawks’ second-half offensive barrage started early and often as UT Martin started to wear down the Panther defense. Kaldaridou had an open look in the 59th minute that caromed off the crossbar as four of the next five Skyhawk attempts were on goal.
Kaldaridou’s equalizer came at the 83:50 mark and UT Martin wasted little time before delivering another scoring opportunity. Adams soon took a corner kick and found Amy McGivern for a point-blank shot that grazed the left post. Roberts then emerged from the scrum to guide the ball past reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week Sara Teteak for the eventual game-winner.
MURRAY STATE 1, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont women's soccer battled gusty winds and a tough Murray State squad to close out its home slate Sunday afternoon at E.S. Rose Park. The Bruins put together a solid defensive effort against the Racers, but ultimately dropped a 1-0 decision on a second half goal.
The squad suffered just its second shutout of the season, dropping them to a 9-5-1 overall mark and a 5-3-0 record in conference play. While they struggled to get shots off, the Bruins did an outstanding job of disrupting the Racers (11-1-2, 6-0-2 OVC) offense all afternoon.
Murray State controlled the pace for most of the match, outshooting BU, 13-8. Despite having to defend their goal often, the Bruins refused to let up. MSU fired off four consecutive shots in the opening minutes, but failed to find an open look as the ball flew off frame each time.
It was in the 12th minute that Belmont got one of its best looks of the first stanza when freshman Sydney Cason (Hendersonville, Tenn.) showed off some fancy footwork, alluding a Racer defender and keeping the ball in play to serve a cross in the box. Sophomore Anna Brock Hawkins (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) met the ball roughly 15 yards out but put a little too much power into it as the ball soared over the frame.
From then on Murray State found a way to keep the play in their attacking third, putting the Bruin defenders to work early and often. In the middle of the frame the Racers earned three corners with in a span of three minutes, all of which BU cleared before they could even get a play off.
With only two minutes left in the first half Murray State's Harriet Withers took the ball to the corner of the 8-yard box and looked to give the Racers an advantaged heading into the locker room, but sophomore keeper Lily Herman (Springboro, Ohio) had other plans. As Withers blasted her fourth shot of the half Herman made a diving save, stopping the ball with the heal of her foot and denying MSU of a goal.
As the winds picked up in the latter half of the game, Belmont was at the wrong end of the field with the gusts blowing straight into its goal. However, the squad showed its determination to create shots as sophomore Niki Clements (Perkasie, Pa.) delivered the Bruin first shot of the frame in the 54th minute but couldn't convert.
Herman made another great read on the ball moments later with a Racer quickly approaching striking distance. As Miyah Watford gathered for a shot Herman dove and scooped up the ball to keep the match scoreless.
It was in the 64th minute that MSU would strike on a corner kick from Withers that bounced around in the box before Watford would use a sliver of an opening to put the ball in the back of the net and give Murray State a 1-0 lead.
From then on the Bruins did everything they could to trigger the equalizer, but had no such luck. Rookie Haley Poynter (Lexington, Ky.) came close on a shot from the top of the 18-yard box that took a favorable bounce for BU, but Murray State keeper Alex Steigerwald would collect the ball and halt Belmont's chance at tying the game up.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4, SIUE 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast soccer (6-7-3, 3-3-3) netted a season-high four goals in a 4-1 victory over SIUE (6-8-2, 4-4-1) Sunday afternoon at Houck Field.
Prior to Sunday's match, redshirt-freshman goalkeeper Maddie Gleeson was announced the recipient of the annual Meg Herndon Memorial Scholarship. The Herndon family presented a check for 15 thousand dollars to the endowed scholarship.
For the second game in a row, Esmie Gonzales scored two goals. Her first goal tied the game while her second put SEMO on top. She finishes the weekend with four goals, bringing her season total to six.
Southeast outshot the Cougars 19-11 and put 10 on the mark. Gonzales had four shots while Hannah Compernolle, Lauren Kaempfe, and Shelby Beussink all had three.
Kindra Lierz and Gleeson once again split time in goal for the Redhawks. Lierz made two saves in the first half while Gleeson made one in the second. Gleeson walked away with the win, improving to 3-1.
Juli Rossi and Jensen Schoch split time for the Cougars in net. Rossi shutout the Redhawks in the first half, making four saves. Schoch gave up all four goals to the Redhawks.
In the final minute of the first half, Southeast allowed an own goal after a deflection off a SEMO defender to put SIUE on top, 1-0, going into halftime.
Southeast led in the shots column at halftime, 9-5. Four of SEMO's shots were put on the mark as three of SIUE's went on goal. Gonzales and Beussink each took a pair of shots in the opening 45. The two teams combined for seven corner kicks with the Redhawks taking three.
Gonzales scored the equalizer in the 53rd minute when she netted an unassisted goal from the edge of the box.
For the second game in a row, Gonzales recorded a multi-goal performance. In the 75th minute, the sophomore's shot ricocheted off the far post and into the back of the net to put SEMO on top 2-1. The goal is her third game-winner of the season.
The lead was extended in the 83rd minute when Jennifer Brien dribbled down past Schoch, passed right to Compernolle who scored her first career Redhawk goal.
Less than a minute later, Kaempfe made it 4-1 with her second goal of the season, assisted by Lexi Grote.