THURSDAY'S SCORES
Evansville 1,
@Morehead State 0
@Southeast Missouri 1, Missouri-St. Louis 0
Tennessee 6,
@Tennessee Tech 0
@Indiana 1,
UT Martin 0
EVANSVILLE 1, MOREHEAD STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - On a day that saw frustration running even higher than the sweltering temperatures, the Morehead State Soccer Eagles could not solve the stout defense of Evansville despite an offensive barrage, as they fell to the Purple Eagles in their Thursday night matchup, 1-0.
The Eagles' program dropped to 1-2 on the season, and absorbed their first home defeat to the Purple Aces, who they have previously held a 3-0 home record against going into the match.
Evansville scored the game's lone goal in the 12th minute, when Emily Wolak found a streaking Emily Ormson on a breakaway that found the back of the net. However, despite the early goal, the Eagles controlled most of the first half action, outshooting the Purple Aces 6-2 with Sidney Palla, Caitlyn Burdine, and Abby Wesselkamper all putting dangerous shots on goal.
The Eagles continued to generate opportunities in the second half, outshooting Evansville 7-6, but were unable to break through and tie the game. Morehead State had a pair of chances to equalize in the 71st minute off a free kick and an Allie Bush shot, but again, could not beat Purple Aces' goaltender Michaela Till. Another opportunity came off a corner kick in the 76 minute that saw a host of Evansville defenders block another attempt from Bush on an empty net. The Eagles were stopped yet again in the 82nd minute, as an initial shot from Burdine was stopped by Till and a rebound from Gabby Nastasi was kept out of the goal by an Evansville defender.
The 13 shots from the Eagles tied a season high, matching their total from their opening night victory against North Alabama, and is the most shots in a game from Morehead State since posting 16 in a double overtime game this past spring against Austin Peay.
Morehead State looks to bounce back quickly when it takes on Marshall at home on Sunday at 2 pm ET.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1, MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's soccer (2-1-0) edged Missouri-St. Louis, 1-0, Thursday evening at Houck Field for the Redhawks second-straight victory this season.
Kiana Khedoo notched her first goal of the 2021 campaign Thursday as SEMO stayed perfect on its home turf.
Khedoo, a Brampton, Ontario, Canada native, registered the game-winner, her second career goal as a Redhawk in the 15th minute. She perfectly placed a shot that trickled into the left corner of the net past Paige Schwartz to provide the Redhawks a 1-0 lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Khedoo competed in 71 minutes Thursday.
Schwartz made seven saves in UMSL's opener and was credited with the loss.
Redhawks keeper Bailey Redden compiled a save for her first shutout of the 2021 season. She now has 15 in her career and ranks tied for fourth in the SEMO record books.
SEMO outshot the Tritons, 7-1, in the opening half and finished the contest with a 13-2 advantage in the category. The Redhawks posted six shots on goal compared to UMSL's one.
Katelyn Miller, Nadiia Ivanchenko and Elizabeth Rater each had a pair of shots Thursday, coming on as substitutions. Both of Rater's shots were on target.
Emma Brune, Abby Tremain, Khedoo, Kate Daus, Faith Liljegren and Natalie Miller each had a shot against UMSL.
Jalyn Richardson paced Missouri-St. Louis with two shots including one on target.
SEMO also earned six corners while the Tritons only had one opportunity.
Anne-Clara Couturier made her first career start Thursday, finishing with 49 minutes on the pitch.
Brune and Lauren Welker played in all 90 minutes on defense. For Brune, it was her 15th-straight game dating back to this past spring's 2020-21 season, playing in every minute of regulation. For Welker, it was her second-consecutive 90-minute game in 2021.
SEMO next faces Mississippi State in its first road test of the 2021 regular season Sunday at the MSU Soccer Field. Initial kick is set for 1 p.m. CT in Starkville, Mississippi.
TENNESSEE 6, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech soccer team dropped its first home match of the year, as the Golden Eagles fell victim to a red-hot No. 17 Tennessee squad that came to Cookeville and left with a 6-0 win.
The Vols (3-0-0) scored four times in the first half, including three in the span of nine minutes just about two-thirds into the stanza to take control of the contest. UT added two more goals in the second half to put the finishing touches on the victory, the club's second 6-0 nod over the first three affairs. Tennessee has now outscored its opponents 14-0 on the young season.
Jaida Thomas kick-started the scoring with a 16th minute quick redirection, the first of six different Volunteers to find the back of the net. Maddie Eskin added on with a goal in the 29th minute, while Claudia Dipasupil fond the back of the net in the 33rd minute and Emmy Schleifer concluded the first-half scoring with a strike in the 38th minute.
Hannah Tillet powered one home in the 76th minute and Taylor Huff notched a goal in the 89th minute to round out the UT attack.
The Golden Eagles (1-2-0) produced a season-high five shots, led by a season-best two out of Taylor Hornback. The Vols collected 30 shots, 15 in each stanza and put 18 total shots on-goal. Thomas and Mackenzie George paved the way with a match-leading six attempts apiece.
Isabelle Austin recorded a career-high 12 saves. Lindsey Romig and Ashley Gabor shared the goalkeeping duties with Romig securing one save in the first half and Gabor playing the second period without a stop.
TTU will close out its season-long, three-match homestand Sunday evening against Chattanooga. First kick from Tech Soccer Field is set for 6 p.m. CT.
INDIANA 1, UT MARTIN 0
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - More than holding their own in the midst of a head-to-head matchup against Big Ten competition on Thursday night, the University of Tennessee at Martin ultimately couldn't provide the equalizer after a first-half dagger from the Indiana Hoosiers on the road, succumbing to a 1-0 defeat in the third contest of the 2021 semester.
It took 238 minutes for a Skyhawk opponent to squeeze one through the vaunted UTM defensive front, but once IU's Avery Lockwood produced the Hoosiers' second goal of the season towards the closing moments of the opening stanza, UT Martin was reduced to playing catchup from there. Despite a handful of promising opportunities to potentially send the match into extra minutes for the second time in four days, the end result kept the Skyhawks off the board for the second straight appearance to drop head coach Phil McNamara's group to an overall record of 1-1-1.
Across a meeting of two schools who had just participated in scoreless ties at the close of the previous weekend (UT Martin against Little Rock while Indiana was blanked versus Notre Dame), both teams' constant sharing of the ball and attempts to control possession led to a low shot total when all was said and done, as IU ultimately held the advantage at 8-4.
Once a pair of lightning-related delays pushed the final 76 minutes of the match full speed ahead, the Hoosiers connected on just their second look at the net of the evening off the leg of Lockwood which held up as the only goal given up by UTM starting keeper Erica Myers over 21 shots faced this year.
True freshman Izzy Patterson, as well as one of last spring's Ohio Valley Conference 1st-Team defender honorees Maria Castaldo, tallied the Skyhawks' three shot tries over the first 45 minutes, the former guiding the ball just left of the target 95 seconds before Indiana produced the only successful strike of the late night.
As it so happened, Patterson was responsible for UTM's only shot attempt of the second period even though the Skyhawks made several flurries in Hoosier territory. IU, content with the slim 1-0 advantage, adopted a keep-away strategy for the majority of the last stanza to limit the amount of chances the visitors had at the back of the net.
While Myers stunted a dangerously close Lockwood tap with under two seconds to go in the first frame (one of the graduate's three saves on the night to put her solely into 2nd place in the school's all-time records list), the lone score given up seven minutes earlier proved to be the driving factor in the 1-0 final decision.
Anna Bennett joined Lockwood as the only two Hoosiers with two shots collected, while goalkeeper Jamie Gerstenberg scooped up her second victory of the fall while needing just one save on Castaldo's solo attempt in the 28th minute.
After coming up on the short end of the stick against the Hoosiers, UT Martin will wrap up their three-game road trip on Sunday afternoon in the same vicinity, heading to Indiana State on August 29th for a 12:00 kickoff against the Sycamores representing the Missouri Valley Conference. Thus far in 2021, ISU has been 50/50 during their first two events, downing Eastern Illinois 3-1 before suffering a double-overtime loss to Northern Illinois in De Kalb 72 hours later. The Sycamores travel to Columbia, Missouri to face the Tigers on Friday before the meeting with the Skyhawks at the tail end of the weekend.
Over the program's 23-year history, UTM has battled Indiana State on two separate occasions, dropping a 4-2 decision in 2013 before earning payback one year later at home by a 3-0 margin. The Skyhawks will take part in three non-conference home matches in a row following their extended stay in Indiana.