SUNDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 5, Morehead State 0
UT Martin 4, @Southeast Missouri 1
@Eastern Illinois 2, Murray State 1
SIUE 5, MOREHEAD STATE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Following a scoreless first half, the Cougars set a program record for the most single-half goals in an Ohio Valley Conference match in a 5-0 rout over Morehead State on Sunday afternoon.
The Cougars and Eagles played to a 0-0 draw in the opening 45 minutes, with SIUE registering 12 total shots while holding Morehead State to just one. However, the sparks were flying in the second half - the scoring started with an Eagles own goal in the 46th minute, as the visitors couldn't defend a Cougar cross and forced the MSU defender into heading the ball into her own net. Just two minutes later, MacKenzie Litzsinger found the back of the net thanks to passes from Lily Schnieders and Megan Keeven to double the SIUE lead. The Cougars struck again in the 51st minute, this time with Maria Haro taking passes from Litzsinger and Schnieders to increase the Cougar lead to 3-0. The Red & White would strike again in the 70th minute, as true freshman Kaitlyn Nichols netted her first collegiate goal assisted by Sidney Christopher. Christopher would again put her forwards into scoring positions, assisting on a Angel Ikeda goal in the 81st minute.
As a team, the Cougars notched 22 shots, 12 of which were on target. SIUE held the Eagles to just three total shots, all of which were on target but safely padded away by Bella Henderson.
In addition to SIUE's five-goal second half performance serving as the most single-half goals in an OVC match, but it is also tied for the most single-half goals in the program's Division I era - the Cougars netted five second-half goals in a 7-0 win over Chicago State on Sep. 6, 2015.
UT MARTIN 4, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Achieving three goals less than nine minutes apart from each other to emphatically break a 1-1 tie in the early moments of the second period, the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team polished off its third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference victory on Sunday afternoon, dealing Southeast Missouri State a lopsided 4-1 defeat in the process. Sitting ahead of the pack in the OVC standings with a best-possible nine points to their resume while outgunning the other side by a combined 9-2 over the past seven days, the Skyhawks stayed white hot to deliver more than one knockout blow to the Redhawks for their seventh win overall.
In an identical manner to that of UTM's 4-1 triumph over Eastern Illinois last Thursday at home, four different players added to the scoreboard for head coach Phil McNamara's club, as true freshman Brooke Kala and senior Jill Hildreth both notched their second scores in as many meetings. Emely van der Vliet and Jill's twin sister Jaden Hildreth added to the Skyhawks' goal party at the close of the weekend, bringing the navy and orange an increasing tidal wave of momentum nearing the halfway portion of conference play.
The final margin of 4-1 has been extremely kind to UT Martin this season, finding a victory via that same exact score for the 4th time this year. Coincidentally, the other two occasions happened in back-to-back fashion during non-conference outings versus North Alabama and Wright State in mid-September. The Skyhawks have now ended two straight bouts with an 8-2 combined final deficit yet again, blowing out a SEMO team that was picked one spot above them in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference projections.
Nearly 20 minutes into the second half, the visitors left no doubt as to the ending result thanks to a three-goal spurt that took a single-digit amount of minutes to materialize. Even though the Redhawks had only seen one shot attempt to that point – which ended in the home squad's only goal of the day in the 23rd minute – the match was still deadlocked at one all, until the Skyhawks lined up six straight shots at the back of the net in short order, connecting on half of them to immediately put the contest out of reach.
Van der Vliet was the first to find a goal for either side on Sunday, receiving an assist from Jill Hildreth at the 17:07 stamp before Southeast Missouri evened the odds just over five minutes later. The Redhawks were limited to only one more shot attempt the rest of the way while the UT Martin back line of defense continued their OVC-best reputation on another sterling performance. Through 11 appearances, the Skyhawks' opponent has still only registered more than one score in a single game on one occasion, keeping that remarkable statistic intact against their league foe.
The wheels fell off for the hosting side once the Hildreth sisters and Kala launched the ball past starting keeper Bailey Redden thrice in the second frame, all three of those scores in solo fashion to put the nail in the proverbial coffin. Rattled by the Skyhawks' flurry – the second straight time posting three second-half goals – Southeast Missouri slumped to defeat after getting outperformed in the shots category 14-2.
Winning the shot battle for the 7th time in 2021 and the sixth time out of the last seven meetings, UT Martin was able to hit cruise control once the damage was done with the comfortable advantage. Graduate goalie Erica Myers grabbed her 37th personal win over her five-year tenure while only needing one save in the 78th minute to do so.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 2, MURRAY STATE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - – Zenaya Barnes found the back of the net twice in the first half as her brace stood up for the Eastern Illinois women’s soccer team as the Panthers snapped an eight match losing skid to Murray State with a 2-1 win on Sunday at Lakeside Field.
Due to expected heavy rains for the afternoon, the two teams moved up the match time to begin at 11 a.m. and were able to complete the match with no weather issues.
The early start did not seem to hamper Murray State as the Racers jumped on the board first with Reyna Mjangos scoring in the 8th minute with the assist to Rebecca Kubin.
EIU was able to counter late in the first half as Barnes scored on a shot to the upper corner of the net in the 33rd minute to knot the contest at 1-1.
Barnes match winner came in the 38th minute as she again scored to give the Panthers the 2-1 advantage heading into the half. Michaela Danyo was credited with assists on both Barnes goals.
Murray State applied offensive pressure the remainder of the match but was unable to score the equalizer as EIU goalkeeper Faith Davies finished with ten saves.
Saraya Young had six shots for a Murray State team that had 25 in the match with a 11 on goal. EIU had four shots on goal in the contest.
EIU improved to 3-6-2 on the season, 1-1-1 in the OVC. Murray State fell to 6-5 overall, 1-1 in the OVC.