SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 1, Eastern Illinois
@UT Martin 4, Jacksonville State 0
@SIUE 6, Morehead State 0
@Belmont 1, Austin Peay 0
@Southeast Missouri 3, Tennessee Tech 2
UT MARTIN 4, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team put the finishing touches on a strong regular season campaign by clinching the No. 3 seed in next week’s Ohio Valley Conference Soccer Championship with a decisive 4-0 victory over Jacksonville State.
The Skyhawks (8-5-5, 6-2-2 OVC) will now receive a bye into the tournament quarterfinals while playing host to the winner of No. 6 seed Belmont and No. 7 seed Austin Peay on Sunday, Nov. 3.
Prior to today’s contest, UT Martin honored its senior duo of Nicole Collins and Lexi Thomas while rewarding the tandem with a dominant victory. The Skyhawks would outshoot the Gamecocks by a final tally of 25 to seven while scoring four unanswered goals – including three in the second half.
Sophomore Jill Hildreth got the Skyhawks on the board just before the half with a strike off a nice double assist from Lotte Koot and Skylar Boes. The Skyhawks would then quickly strike for another pair of scores in the opening minutes of the second half as Alice Adams drilled a shot past the keeper off an assist from Hendrikje Baurmann while Bella Roberts made it a three-score margin with a penalty kick goal just five minutes later. UT Martin would put the finishing touches on the afternoon in the 79th minute as freshman Sophia Mankowski scored her first career goal.
Junior goalkeeper Erica Myers was strong once again, tallying her fifth shutout of the season and 13th of her career. Myers would tally four saves in the contest while notching her 24th career victory.
Jacksonville State (4-14, 1-9 OVC) saw its season come to a close on Sunday afternoon. The Gamecocks would be led offensively by Cynthia Bagozzi who paced the team with three shots – including two on goal.
BELMONT 1, AUSTIN PEAY 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The Belmont women's soccer team sent its eight seniors out with one final home victory on Sunday against Austin Peay, winning 1-0 at Rose Park on Senior Day in front of record-breaking crowd of 513 fans.
The win put Belmont in sixth place in the conference standings, allowing them to clinch its fourth straight OVC Tournament appearance. Belmont's 2019 senior class is the first group of seniors in program history to reach the OVC Tournament all four years.
With all six active seniors being placed in the starting 11, including a first career start for Hannah Diaz, Henson wanted to make sure that the other two seniors who could not play due to injury had one final moment on the Rose Park field. She set up an honorary kickoff for seniors MacKenzie Firek and Jordan Chawan, who kicked the ball to each other before kicking it out of bounds for a restart.
While Firek and Chawan were unable to play in Sunday's match due to injury, getting to step onto the field at Rose Park one more time created a memory that will last a lifetime.
Using the senior presentation and the honorary kickoff as motivation to open the first half, Belmont quickly controlled the offensive momentum. After firing a quick shot that just missed by hitting the crossbar two minutes into the first half, the Bruins capitalized off their second shot three minutes later.
Julie Garst fired a ball past the Austin Peay defense, finding the foot of senior Niki Clements inside the penalty area to knock it in the back of the net to give the Bruins the go-ahead lead. The goal was Clements' fifth on the season and Garst collected her third assist on the year.
Needing 85 minutes of shutout defense to cap off the last home match with a win, Belmont's defense delivered. After senior goalkeeper Lily Herman made three saves in the first half, Austin Peay fired two shots just under 10 minutes into the second half that looked to tie the match at one. Herman, however, made two diving saves to protect the Bruins' lead.
Austin Peay registered another shot in the 63rd minute, but Belmont prevented any shot opportunities from the Governors for the final 27 minutes that allowed the Bruins to claim its fourth win in OVC play.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, TENNESSEE TECH 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (11-4-1, 8-1-1) won the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and clinched the top seed for the league's postseason tournament with a 3-2 win over Tennessee Tech (6-7-5, 4-3-3) Sunday afternoon.
SEMO won its sixth OVC regular-season crown in program history and first outright title since 2011.
The Redhawks will host the OVC Tournament semifinals (Nov. 8) and final (Nov. 10) at Houck Field. SEMO is scheduled to face either #5 Tennessee Tech, #8 Eastern Illinois or #4 SIU Edwardsville in the second semifinal matchup at 6:30 p.m., CT, on Friday, Nov. 8.
TTU took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Natalie Rolen nearly 27 minutes into the contest.
SEMO answered with three goals, one each by Jennifer Brien, Lexi Grote and Megan Heisserer to take a 3-1 advantage and never looked back.
Brien netted her fourth goal of the season at the 30:09 mark, while Grote scored in the 46th minute and Heisserer notched her goal in the 79th minute.
TTU and SEMO locked up in a physical battle that included four yellow cards and one red card.
Tina Marolt pulled the Golden Eagles within one on a penalty kick goal at the 84:59 mark after SEMO goalkeeper Bailey Redden was issued a red card. Redden was ejected from the game.
SEMO outshot TTU by a commanding 18-3 count with nine of its shots on goal. Grote, Brien, Hailey Block and Heisserer tallied three shots apiece.
MURRAY STATE 1, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State women's soccer celebrated Senior Day in in style on Sunday, defeating Eastern Illinois 1-0 to extend their winning streak to three games as they concluded the regular season schedule. Abby Jones would be responsible for the lone goal in an outing that saw the Racers outshoot EIU 26-6 as Murray State stayed perfect at home against OVC competition in 2019 with a perfect 5-0 record at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky.
The Racers came out strong offensively, with Miyah Watford, Arianna Mendez, and Rebecca Kubin creating promising chances within the first ten minutes of action.
Extending her scoring streak to three-straight contests, it would be Abby Jones who put the Racers on the score sheet, doing so in the 28th minute when she split a pair of Panther defenders before tucking the ball in the lower corner to give her side a 1-0 lead.
The Racers owned a significant advantage on the stat sheet with 15 first-half shots to the Panther's two, while also holding a slight edge in the possession battle with 51% of the ball through the first 45 minutes of the game as the match entered halftime.
Murray State continued to press in the attack during the early stages of the second half, as they generated four more scoring chances within the first 15 minutes out of the break. However, the Racer lead remained at just a single goal as the match drew closer to the final whistle at Cutchin Field.
While Eastern Illinois scrambled to scrape together an equalizer in the closing moments, the Racer back line effectively dealt with services and calmly managed the game through the final seconds to secure a 1-0 victory in front of an energetic home crowd in Murray, Kentucky.
For Abby Jones, her 28th minute goal brings her season point total to 22 on six goals and a team-leading ten assists. As a team, the Racers outshot the Panthers 26-6 overall (11-2 on target), earning nine corners in the process while conceding just two corners defensively.
EIU finished with six total shots in the match including two on goal by senior Lexi Ketterhagen.
SIUE 6, MOREHEAD STATE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's soccer team wrapped up the regular season with a 6-0 shutout over Morehead State on Sunday.
SIUE improves to 8-5-4 (5-2-3 Ohio Valley Conference), while Morehead falls to 4-12-2 (2-6-2).
The Cougars started the scoring off in the 12th minute when Becca Jostes scored off a long shot to hit the top right corner.
Courtney Benning scored the second goal for the team at minute 18 with an assist from Andrea Frerker.
Frerker then scored a goal herself in the 27th minute with an assist from Jostes.
The team's last goal of the half came from Lily Schnieders at the 42nd minute off a throw in from Allison Wendt who is credited with the assist.
Jostes, Benning, Frerker and Schnieders all recorded their fourth goal of the season during this half.
The team went into the half with a 4-0 lead. At the end of the first half, the Cougars outshot the Eagles 10-2.
Early in the second half, SIUE scored their fifth goal of the day. MacKenzie Litzsinger found the back of the net at minute 54 to record her 12th goal of the season. Litzsinger's goal came with an assist from Jostes.
The last goal for the Cougars was an own goal from Morehead State.
The team out shot the Eagles 20-2 at the end of regulation.
Jensen Schoch picked up her seventh win in goal for the Cougars. Schoch also notched her fourth shutout of the season against the Eagles.