SUNDAY SCORES
@Murray State 4, Jacksonville State 0
@Southeast Missouri 2, Morehead State 0
SIUE 2, @Belmont 0
@Eastern Illinois 0, UT Martin 0
MURRAY STATE 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State soccer team saw four Racers score in Ohio Valley Conference action en route to a 4-0 shutout victory Jacksonville State at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky, Sunday.
The Racers (8-2-1, 4-1) jumped out to an early lead when Izzy Heckman sent a cross into the box, finding Symone Cooper for the score in the 14th minute.
Murray State continued to push the offensive attack throughout the first period, logging 12 shots with four shots on net, but was unable to find the back of the net for the remainder of the half. The Racers defense helped maintain the MSU 1-0 lead by holding the JSU offense to just two shots in the half.
The Racers responded by scoring just nine minutes after the halftime intermission, as Miyah Watford connected with Abby Jones at the 54:17 mark. The crafty Jones managed to weave her way through Jacksonville State defenders and to challenge the Gamecocks goalkeeper one-on-one before sending her shot into an open net for the MSU 2-0 lead.
MSU showed no sign of slowing down their offensive attack as Lizzie Tilton connected with her first goal of the season off an Abby Jones assist in the 67th minute. Miyah Watford added a goal of her own at 83:44 to seal the 4-0 victory for the Racers.
In her 55th career start for the blue and gold, senior goalkeeper Alex Steigerwald earned her fourth shutout of the year. With the Racers shutout, Steigerwald improved her career shutout total to 25, tying Tara Isbell's record for the most all-time MSU career shutouts.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2, MOREHEAD STATE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (3-7-1) recorded its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Morehead State (2-10-1) Sunday afternoon at Houck Field.
SEMO scored two goals to put the Golden Eagles away early.
The Redhawks started the game with only 10 players on the field instead of the normal 11. This was done in honor of former SEMO standout Meg Herndon. Sunday's game was also the debut of the Green Up team jerseys, which the Redhawks wore to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donations while honoring and celebrating organ and tissue donors, donor families, and transplant recipients.
SEMO had 11 shots on the day with Esmie Gonzales, Cassidi Tomsu and Katie Lever all taking two each. The Redhawks also had four shots on goal.
Gonzales, who received the ball from Jordan Nelson, scored the first goal of the contest. Nelson kicked the ball into the box after there was a foul called on Morehead State. SEMO took a 1-0 lead just seven minutes into the game.
The Redhawks extended their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Morgan McCourt. McCourt got the ball from Emily Holten, who kicked it in on a corner kick. The score remained 2-0 after the 10th minute goal.
Freshman Bailey Redden recorded the first shutout of her career. Redden had three saves in the match and faced only six shots by Morehead State.
SIUE 2, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The SIUE women's soccer team shutout Belmont 2-0 Sunday. The Cougars (5-6) are now 4-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Belmont drops to 4-4-2 (2-1-1 OVC) on the season.
SIUE Head Coach Derek Burton was proud of the way his team rebounded from the loss Friday against UT Martin.
The Cougars started out fast, recording multiple shots in the first 10 minutes. In the 13th minute, SIUE's Allison Wendt had a great look on net, skimming the post from around 20 yards out.
In the 23rd minute, SIUE's Becca Jostes rifled a shot in, deflecting off a Belmont defender and into the net for an own goal for the Cougars.
SIUE outshot Belmont 9-4 in the first half.
In the second half, the Bruins put a bit more pressure on the SIUE defense, but the Cougars held strong.
SIUE put the game away in the 60th minute with an Andrea Frerker goal. Jostes rifled in a pass right outside the 18-yard box, which Courtney Benning headed down to Frerker, she then chipped the keeper for her second goal of the season.
SIUE goalkeeper Jensen Schoch recorded her second shutout of the season. She had three saves on the day. Frerker took five shots, leading the Cougars.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 0, UT MARTIN 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois women’s soccer picked up a big point in the Ohio Valley Conference standings on Sunday afternoon as the Panthers played to a 0-0 draw with conference leader UT Martin. The match served as senior day for the four members of the Panthers senior class.
EIU is now 3-6-4 overall, 2-2-2 in the OVC with four matches remaining this season. UT Martin is 8-2-1 overall, 3-0-1 in the OVC.
The two teams were locked in a defensive battle in the first half with three shots by the Skyhawks and two shots by the Panthers. Two of the three shots by UTM were on goal as EIU goalkeeper Sara Teteak made four saves on the afternoon to post her sixth shutout of the season including fourth in OVC action.
The Panthers had one good scoring opportunity in the first half as Haylee Renick fired a shot that hit off the post. EIU would finished the match with three total shots including one on goal by Pilar Barrio in the second half.
Danae Kaldaridou had two of the four UTM shots on goal with Skylor Keane and Samantha Kelly adding the others. Erica Myers picked up her fourth shutout this season.