TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 4, Eastern Illinois 0
@Jacksonville State 2, SIUE 1
@Belmont 2, Morehead State 0
@UT Martin 4, Southeast Missouri 2
@Tennessee Tech 1, Eastern Kentucky 1
MURRAY STATE 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State women's soccer enjoyed a convincing victory in its final match of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman Chloe Barnthouse recorded the first Racer hat trick since 2014, while Lilly Strader chipped in a goal of her own as MSU cruised to a 4-0 triumph over Eastern Illinois at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky. The win also marked the tenth-straight home OVC victory for the Racers as they have gone perfect in OVC regular-season matches at Cutchin Field in back-to-back seasons.
The Racers (9-1) opened the scoring in just the fourth minute and never looked back, taking a 1-0 lead as Barnthouse scored her first goal of the afternoon when she finished a rebounded shot from Rebecca Kubin in the game's opening stages.
Lilly Strader doubled the MSU advantage just ten minutes later when the Hopkinsville, Kentucky native found the side netting with a perfectly-placed strike after receiving a clever ball from Lauren Payne to give the Racers a 2-0 lead in the 13th minute.
Murray State carried that score line into the halftime break after dominating the first 45 minutes – outshooting the Panthers 13-5 in the first half.
The relentless Racer attack got back to work straight away out of the break, widening their margin to three when Barnthouse guided a header past the Panther goalkeeper off a cross from Izzy Heckman in the 47th minute of action.
With two goals to her name already, Barnthouse capped off her impressive day by completing the hat-trick performance when she found the net with a clinical header once again - this time coming from a perfectly-weighted ball from the foot of freshman Riley Johnson.
The hat trick is the 12th in program history and the first since Julie Mooney accomplished the feat on October 10th, 2014 in Murray State's 5-0 triumph over Morehead State. With the three scores, Barnthouse, a West Bloomfield, Michigan native, brings her goal total to a team-leading seven on the season.
For Strader, the goal is her fourth of the campaign, while goalkeeper Jenna Villacres recorded her third clean sheet of the year.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 2, SIUE 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Senior Alicia Pallister connected on a breakaway goal to lift Jacksonville State past SIU Edwardsville, 2-1, on Tuesday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Field.
The Gamecocks wrapped up the spring season at 4-5-1 against Ohio Valley Conference competition and recorded the final win of their tenure in the OVC. Jax State will shift to the ASUN for the fall season. The four league wins is the most for the program since the 2015 season in which it collected five wins against the league. SIUE concluded the regular season at 6-2-2 and will await its seeding for the OVC Soccer Championship in Murray, Kentucky. JSU has knocked off the top-two teams in the OVC this season, league champion Murray State and SIUE.
Pallister bolstered her case for postseason honors with her game-winning goal in the 76th minute. Pallister broke away from a crowd at midfield after a an SIUE threat and beat the Cougar defender and goalkeeper for her fourth goal of the season. The Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada native was a factor in JSU's opening goal in the first half. Pallister's corner kick was successfully headed into the back of the net by redshirt freshman Ida Cederberg in the 11th minute. It was Cederberg's third goal of the season and should be a viable candidate for newcomer honors within the OVC.
Pallister's assist was her ninth of the season and is the conference leader in assists. She now ranks second all-time at JSU for assists in a single season. Former Gamecock Megan Steinebach recorded 10 assists during the 1997 season.
JSU and SIUE, the top-two offensive teams in the OVC, combined for 23 shots on the day with JSU holding a plus-three advantage in total shots with 13 in the contest. Pallister led all players with five shots on the day with four on-goal scoring chances. Sophomore Cynthia Bagozzi added three shots, while junior Ali Thomas posted a pair of looks at the goal.
BELMONT 2, MOREHEAD STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Behind a goal and assist from senior Julie Garst in her final game as a Belmont Women's Soccer player, the Bruins defeated Morehead State in the final match of the 2021 spring season 2-0 on Tuesday night at Rose Park.
Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Doyle recorded three saves, collecting her third complete shutout of the season in the process.
After trading possessions, Belmont struck first in the 28th minute. Sophomore midfielder Avery Nowak scored her second goal of the season off an assist from Garst, giving Belmont a 1-0 lead that they would carry into the locker room.
Garst capped off her Belmont career by scoring her final goal as a Bruin and the final score of the 2021 spring season in the 76th minute to give Belmont a 2-0 advantage. The Bruins did not allow a shot to Morehead State in the final 14 minutes, allowing Belmont to seal its third shutout victory of the season.
Belmont's other four seniors will exercise the NCAA's extra year of eligibility in the fall 2021 season. Garst recently accepted her dream job with the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in the NICU and is set to graduate in this spring with a degree in Nursing from Belmont.
The Franklin, Tenn., natvie finishes her Belmont career with 22 goals, which is currently tied for second on the program's career goal list with Cristin Czubik (1998-2001) and Belicia Mendiola (2014-17). With 53 career points, Garst is now fourth on the program's career point list.
Belmont finished the 2021 spring campaign with a 5-4-1 record, finishing fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. The Bruins played all 10 of their scheduled games without a postponement or cancellation due to COVID-19.
With a majority of the Bruins' roster returning for the fall season in 2021, Belmont plans to use the lessons learned from the spring season to jump start another title run in the fall.
UT MARTIN 4, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri women's soccer (6-3-1, 6-3-1 OVC) dropped a 4-2 decision to UT Martin (6-3-1, 6-3-1 OVC) to conclude the 2020-21 regular season Tuesday at the Skyhawk Soccer Field.
SEMO earned the fourth seed in the 2020-21 OVC Championship and will take on top-seeded Murray State (9-1-0, 9-1-0 OVC) Thursday, April 15 in Murray, Kentucky. First kick is set for 11 a.m., CT at Cutchin Field.
#2 SIUE (6-2-2, 6-2-2 OVC) will face #3 UT Martin in the second semifinal at 2 p.m. The Championship final will then be contested on Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m.
Nadiia Ivanchenko and Abby Tremain scored for the Redhawks in the regular-season finale Tuesday. Lauren Welker compiled assists on both tallies and now has a team-high 14 points this season.
SEMO registered more then a goal for the third time in the 2020-21 campaign Tuesday.
UT Martin took an early 1-0 lead off a breakaway goal from Jill Hildreth in the 16th minute of regulation.
The Skyhawks outshot the Redhawks, 9-0, in the opening frame. Bailey Redden made four saves in the first half including a diving stop on Jaden Hildreth in the 40th minute to keep it a one-score game.
UT Martin increased its offensive production in the second half, notching 11 shots to finish the contest with 20 and 12 on target.
Goals from Emely van der Vliet and Alice Adams extended the UTM margin to 3-0 with 18 minutes left in regulation.
Ivanchenko then cut the Skyhawks lead to 3-1 with a strike in the 72nd minute of play. The freshman from Lviv, Ukraine, put the Redhawks on the scoreboard with her first career goal.
Ivanchenko paced SEMO with two shots on goal Tuesday.
UTM then regrew its lead to three 10 minutes later. Jill Hildreth recorded her second goal of the evening in the 82nd minute to provide the Skyhawks a 4-1 advantage. Jill Hildreth converted a feed from her twin sister Jaden Hildreth.
SEMO continued to fight and halved the UT Martin lead with a goal from Tremain in the 85th minute of play. Tremain, a Bridgeton, Missouri, native, celebrated her birthday with her second career goal as a Redhawk.
UTM outshot SEMO, 20-5, including 12-4 with shots on goal.
Redden finished with eight saves in the regular-season finale. Skyhawks goalie Erica Myers made two saves for the win.
Midfielder Taylor Nelson made her first career start as a Redhawk Tuesday.
Kiana Khedoo registered a pair of shots.
Emma Brune, Lexie Hacker and Natalie Jackson all played in the full 90 minutes of regulation Tuesday evening.
Jill Hildreth led the Skyhawks with four shots on goal (five total shots) and van der Vliet finished with three shots on net. Alice Adams tallied five shots including a pair on target.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 1, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University soccer team closed out the spring season with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night.
The Colonels conclude the season with a record of 4-5-1.
EKU got on the board first in the 25th minute when sophomore Ali Kirk lofted a header into the back of the net off a corner kick from sophomore Michaela Iacono.
It was Kirk’s first collegiate goal and Iacono’s team-leading third assist of the season.
TTU leveled in the 50th minute. Bailey Taylor rebounded her own missed shot and scored to make it 1-1.
The teams played to a draw on the scoreboard and were fairly even in the scorebook, as well.
EKU held a slight advantage in shots (21-20) and shots on goal (11-9).
Sophomore Audrey Anderson led all players in the game with six shots, three of which were on frame. Kirk also put three shots on target for the Colonels.
Senior defenders Katie Shaffer and Claire Hicks, and midfielders Kirk and Kylie Fitzgerald played all 110 minutes of the double-overtime affair.
Senior goalkeeper Billie Clark made seven saves to preserve the tie.