FRIDAY SCORES
Belmont 3, @Eastern Illinois 1
@Murray State 2, Tennessee Tech 0
@Austin Peay 3, Jacksonville State 1
UT Martin 3, @SIUE 0
BELMONT 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - After both teams registered just one shot on goal in the first half, Belmont and Eastern Illinois combined for nine second half shots on goal resulting in four goals as the visiting Bruins picked up a 3-1 win over the Panthers at Lakeside Field.
EIU dropped to 3-6-3 overall, 2-2-1 in the OVC and will host UT Martin at 1 pm on Sunday for Senior Day. Belmont improved to 4-3-2 overall, 2-0-1 in the OVC.
Belmont's first goal of the match came in the 51st minute when Kameron Ziesig curled a corner kick from the left side of the field into the back of the net.
The Bruins then padded the lead to 2-0 five minutes later as Emily Whitcomb played a long ball forward into the zone that a streaking Julie Garst played and drove towards the goal to beat EIU goalkeeper Sara Teteak.
EIU would cut the margin in half in the 77th minute when Eva Munoz played a corner kick to the top of the box. Angela Corcoran fired the ball high to score over Belmont goalkeeper Abby Hunt.
Belmont quickly countered as Paige Hewitt scored on a direct kick from just outside the goal box after a yellow card was issued to EIU on hard tackle.
Haylee Renick had two of the Panthers five shots on goal while Corcoran, Itxaso Aguero and Kate Olson had the others.
MURRAY STATE 2, TENNESSEE TECH 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State women’s soccer team scored early and generally dictated play Friday in a 2-0 Ohio Valley Conference shutout of visiting Tennessee Teach at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky.
In their first home appearance in about a month (their last home game before was Aug. 31) the Racers (7-2-1, 3-1 OVC) scored against the Golden Eagles only 2:31 after the opening touch. Rebecca Kubin scored from 20 yards out from a feed from Miyah Watford and scored her third goal of the season for a 1-0 Racers lead.
The Racers held the lead through halftime and atford assisted again in the 53rd minute when she hit Abby Jones with a nice rolling pass through two defenders for Jones’ fourth goal of the season.
MSU kept the pressure on Tech by forcing the play forward and had a 22-13 advantage in shots.
Racer goalkeeper Alex Steigerwald recorded her third shutout of the season and was able to save all seven shots on goal that she faced. Steigerwald is closing on another career record at Murray State. Today was her 54th career start, she’s just behind Tara Isbell (2007-10) who made 59 starts. In MSU career shutouts, Steigerwald now has 24 and is one behind Isbell’s 25. Steigerwald already owns the MSU record for wins, now with 40. The former record was also held by Isbell with 31.
Continuing their dominant advantage at Cutchin Field they’ve enjoyed over five seasons, the Racers pushed their 2018 mark on their home turf to 5-0. Since the 2014 season, the Racers are 36-4-1 at Cutchin Field. Playing in their 19th season, the Racers are 94-58-13 at home.
AUSTIN PEAY 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University women's soccer team earned an important Ohio Valley Conference win by routing Jacksonville State, 4-1, Friday, at Morgan Brothers Soccer Field.
Head coach Naomi Kolarova only made one change in the lineup, but there were multiple Govs who made a switch into different positions. McKenzie Dixon moved into the center of defense, while Caroline Wistrom took Dixon's spot up top. Jade Dauriat and Katie Costantino, generally central midfielders, made the transition to left and right back, respectively. The overhaul for the Govs (7-4-1, 2-2-1 OVC) continued as Renee Semaan and Abby Therrell each stepped into midfield as well.
The Govs got on the front foot immediately with Wistrom playing Claire Larose through on goal, but JSU keeper Morgan Lerch made a good stop to deny Larose. Larose had another good chance a few minutes later, as she attempted to curl the ball to the far post, but it went wide.
Fortunately, the Govs did not have to wait long after for the breakthrough, as Wistrom once again played provider for Larose, who this time made sure she it counted as she slotted the ball near-post past Lerch for a 1-0 Govs lead in the 17th minute.
Halftime came and went with the Govs ahead 1-0 and action quickly came about again. A Gamecock player looked to be through 1v1, but Shelby Stewart raced back from her midfield position to put in a last-ditch, crunching tackle that kept the Govs in the lead.
Possibly inspired by Stewart's defensive work, the Govs went back on the front foot. Larose played a ball through to Wistrom who was through on goal, but Lerch once again made a good save. After a couple more shots and corners, the Govs could sense a second goal was coming. In the 59th minute, Wistrom delivered the goods as she picked up a deflected ball at the top of the penalty box and rocketed the ball into the far corner to double the Govs lead.
It looked like the Govs had tamed the Gamecocks (3-6-2, 1-2 OVC), but the Gamecocks made it interesting. After a couple warning signs right after Wistrom's goal, JSU's Emma Meadows hit a high-arching shot from outside the box that found the top corner of the net in the 64th minute.
The Govs did not put their heads down though as just five minutes later Wistrom rewarded her coach's decision to start her up top as she scored her second. Larose played a defense-splitting pass to Katie Kenward, who crossed in a scintillating ball that served up Wistrom on a platter, who easily finished into the roof of the net to restore the two-goal cushion.
The Govs were not done with their offensive explosion, as just three minutes and 50 seconds later the Govs had another. After a corner by Dauriat, the Gamecock defense could not clear and Larose controlled the ball on the right side of the box and unleashed a flawless left-footed strike that bent into the far corner. Larose's second proved to be the dagger, as the Govs were able to shutdown JSU for the remainder of the match and claim their second OVC win of the year.
UT MARTIN 3, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team claimed a 3-0 victory over Ohio Valley Conference foe SIUE this evening. An all-out effort by the Skyhawks pushed their hot streak out to a five-match win streak and best start in school history.
UT Martin (8-2, 3-0 OVC) was led by Amy McGivern, Danae Kaldaridou and Kaci Mitchell as all three knocked in a goal apiece. Katelyn Colvin and Sara Ketis each notched an assist in the bout. McGivern paced the club in shots (three) while Kaldaridou, Skylor Keane, Alice Adams, Bella Roberts and Samantha Kelly all tallied a pair of shots each. Colvin, Mitchell and Jaden Hildreth rounded out the shots column with one swing apiece.
The Skyhawk defense held the Cougars to a mere six shots throughout the entire contest while just three of those shots were on goal. Defenders Mitchell and Jacalyn Schubring each notched a full 90 minutes and kept the SIUE offense at bay.
Goalkeeper Erica Myers tallied a clean sheet as she racked up three saves in her complete match between the posts. Tonight’s shutout was the third of the season for Myers as she lowered her goals against average to a miniscule 0.77 goals per match.
UT Martin cracked into the scoring column at the 40:48 mark as McGivern took a pass from Ketis on a free kick and headed in the first goal of the match for the Skyhawks. The 62nd minute saw another UT Martin goal this time from Mitchell as Colvin sent the ball flying on a corner kick. A little over six minutes would go by before the final Skyhawk goal found the back of the net when Kaldaridou received the ball from Kelly on a botched save by the Cougars.