SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Little Rock 2, Tennessee Tech 2
SIUE 3, @Morehead State 0
@Southern Indiana 2, Eastern Illinois 0
Southeast Missouri 4, @UT Martin 2
LITTLE ROCK 2, TENNESSEE TECH 2
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A late Little Rock goal in the waning minutes of Sunday's regular-season finale forced a 2-2 draw, but two rapid scores in the span of just over two minutes midway through the second half helped push the Tennessee Tech soccer team to an undefeated OVC campaign. A Bronte Peel goal in the 86th minute pulled the Trojans even, but by virtue of the deadlock, TTU officially claims its second-ever regular-season crown outright with 18 points and becomes the first OVC team to go unblemished on its league ledger since UT Martin in 2018.
The Golden Eagles (7-4-5, 5-0-3) cap off the regular season on an eight-match unbeaten streak and will await their opponent in the OVC Tournament semifinals after clinching the No. 1 seed and a double-bye straight to the semis following Thursday night's 1-0 nod over Morehead State. The OVC Tournament semifinals on Nov. 4 and championship match on Nov. 6 will be in Cookeville for the first time ever.
Trailing 1-0 just over a third of the way into the second stanza, freshman Reagan Smiley squared up the contest in the 63rd minute, making the most of her first career start with her first career goal on a drive that found the bottom right corner of the net. Smiley's score was made possible on a Chloe Smith assist that saw Smith tie teammate Yao Giada Zhou for the most assists in the OVC with six. The senior forward concluded the regular season as the conference's leader with 18 points.
Two minutes and 10 seconds later, another rookie put the purple and gold ahead, as freshman Katie Toney roped home the go-ahead score in the 65th minute to catapult Tech to a 2-1 edge. The McMinnville, Tenn. native collected her third goal of the season with a blast off her right foot that found the back-left corner of the net.
Peel put a lid on the second-half seesaw scoring behind the equalizer with less than five minutes remaining on an attempt off her right foot that found the bottom right of the goal. The Branxton, Australia product was part of a late Little Rock frenzy that featured four shots on-goal over the final five minutes of regulation. The Trojans (5-6-5, 2-3-3 OVC) had taken just one shot on-frame prior to the late surge.
Little Rock led the shots battle, 13-8, including 5-3 on-point. Abbie Smith's four tries were the most in the tilt, while Chloe Smith led the Golden Eagles with three attempts.
The Trojans jumped on the board thanks in large part to a Tech hand ball from inside the box that allowed Little Rock a penalty kick chance to unwrap the scoring in the 29th minute. Karina De Paoli lined up the try and buried one into the top right of the net for the only Little Rock shot on-goal in the first half.
The score was the first one yielded by the purple and gold since Oct. 2 at UT Martin, snapping a string of nearly 279 minutes without allowing one to split the pipes. TTU had posted three consecutive clean sheets since the 82nd-minute goal surrendered in Martin.
Maggie Conrad made three saves, all in the last five minutes, and allowed two goals. Paige Henry was not faced with an attempt in the first half, before Little Rock turned to Peyton Urban who allowed both goals and made one stop in the second period.
SIUE 3, MOREHEAD STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - SIUE women's soccer gained the No. 2 seed for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament after gaining a decisive 3-0 road victory Sunday at Morehead State.
The Cougars finished the OVC season with 17 points, including a 5-1-2 record in league play. Tennessee Tech, after tying 2-2 at Little Rock Sunday, finished just ahead of the Cougars with 18 points and a 5-0-3 record in league play.
SIUE, 6-5-4 overall, handed Morehead State, 7-6-3 overall and 4-2-2 in the OVC, its worst loss of the league season on Senior Day.
Taryn Moore got the scoring started for the Cougars with a timely goal at 39:03 on a double assist from Kelsey Kehoe and Mary Wessel. It was the first goal of the freshman's collegiate career.
The top two shooters on SIUE's squad this season teamed up to make it 2-0 at 60:16. Taylor Dolt scored her third goal of the season with an assist from Lily Schnieders.
Macie Begley, also a freshman, put the game out of reach at 78:24 on her first collegiate goal on an assist from Jay Viola.
Taylor Spiller earned the win in goal for the Cougars. She had five saves in her fifth shutout of the season. Morehead State outshot SIUE 13-12
SOUTHERN INDIANA 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer clinched a berth into the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Soccer Championship Tournament Sunday following a 2-0 home win in the regular season finale against Eastern Illinois University.
The Screaming Eagles' seniors led the way for USI toward the 2-0 victory, as well as some timely plays by the defensive unit. USI made history Sunday, getting into the OVC Tournament field in their first season as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference and first year as an NCAA Division I program.
The Screaming Eagles started the match with a high level of energy in the attacking half. USI applied tight pressure on Eastern Illinois' defense through the attacking front of the lineup. The early pressure resulted in three shots for the Screaming Eagles within the first 15 minutes.
Midway into the first half, the Panthers started to find their footing in the attacking half and gain some control of the possession. Both teams had to deal with strong wind gusts throughout the afternoon. The wind gusts affected most of the passes played into the air.
The Screaming Eagles found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute. Coming off a long throw-in in the attacking third, graduate student defender Elizabeth Lippert (Lexington, Kentucky) tapped the ball back toward the top of the box, and senior defender Madison Crawford (O'Fallon, Missouri) struck the ball with a one-time touch into the lower right corner of the goal. For Crawford, it was her first goal of the season and the second of her career.
USI's 1-0 advantage carried into halftime, where Southern Indiana outshot Eastern Illinois 6-1 at the break. USI had three shots on goal in the first half to go along with three corner kicks.
The offensive momentum continued for USI early in the second half. Senior midfielder Jill DiTusa (St. Charles, Illinois) swung the ball in from the wide right and scored USI's second goal of the match in the 49th minute. The goal was DiTusa's second of the season and the 16th of her career. With 16 career goals, DiTusa moved into a tie for 11th all-time in USI history. Additionally, the two points from the goal moved DiTusa into sole possession of 13th all-time in the USI record books for career points with 37 points.
The Panthers kept fighting in the match, as Eastern Illinois had two good chances on the same possession with 16 minutes remaining in the contest. Eastern Illinois made a run from the left side of the box and crossed it toward the near post, where USI's graduate student defender Mia Rose Daly (Haiku, Hawaii) cleared the ball from the post. Shortly after, the Panthers continued their aggression in the attacking half with a chance in the box. Just as it seemed that the ball was going to cross the goal line, sophomore defender Maggie Duggan (Defiance, Missouri) kicked the ball away from the goal line and kept USI's 2-0 lead intact.
The Screaming Eagles and the defense held strong the rest of the way for the 2-0 win, halting any pushback from the Eastern Illinois attack in the late minutes.
In the match, USI outshot EIU 8-5 and 5-3 in shots on goal. Eastern Illinois had four corner kicks and USI had three.
Crawford and DiTusa tallied the two goals for USI, as DiTusa led USI on the day with two shots. Lippert had an assist with the goal by Crawford. In goal, senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) made three saves.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 4, UT MARTIN 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri women's soccer (8-6-2, 4-2-2 OVC) registered three second-half goals in just under a four-minute span to overcome UT Martin (3-9-4, 1-5-2 OVC), 4-2, Sunday afternoon in the regular-season finale at Skyhawk Field.
With the victory, SEMO secured the fourth seed in the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Soccer Championship and will host the First Round and Quarterfinals Oct. 28 and 30. The Redhawks will face the winner of #5 Lindenwood and #8 Southern Indiana (First Round, Oct. 28, 4 p.m., CT) in the Quarterfinals Oct. 30 at 1 p.m., CT at Houck Field.
SEMO will make its 21st all-time appearance at the Tournament next week and qualified for its sixth-straight Tournament.
Trailing 2-1 Sunday and down a player because of a red card, the Redhawks reeled off three-straight goals in 3:44 to capture the victory over UT Martin.
Cayla Koerner evened the game at 2-2, as she beat Skyhawk goalie Poppy Bastock one-on-one off a feed from Zoey Memmel at 80:00 in the second half.
Koerner wasn't done and netted the game winner just over three minutes later at 83:21.
The freshman from Mahomet, Illinois, leads the conference with seven goals in 2022 and six in league play. Koerner has scored six goals in the last seven games for SEMO and three goals in the last two contests.
She compiled a career-best six shots (4 SOG) for two goals (four points) in 60 minutes Sunday.
SEMO last had a player score two goals in an OVC match in 2019 when Hailey Block found the back of the net twice against SIUE on Oct. 3, 2019.
Memmel and Mariah Mannino were both awarded assists on Koerner's game winner.
Memmel, a junior from Grafton, Wisconsin, finished Sunday with a career best two assists in 44 minutes. She now has three career assists as a Redhawk.
For Mannino, it marked her first career assist at SEMO.
Zoe Houston then added an insurance goal 23 seconds after Koerner's game winner at 83:44. Houston blasted a rocket into the top corner of the net off a pass from Navi Washington.
For Washington, a freshman from Lee's Summit, Missouri, the assist was the first in her career.
Houston, a freshman from St. Charles, Missouri, finished Sunday with a career-best three points (one goal and one assist) with a shot on goal in 69 minutes on the pitch. She is second on the team with three assists in 2022.
SEMO and UTM tied in shots, 6-6, in a highly competitive second half that featured five goals. The Skyhawks would wrap the day with a slight 13-12 (7-9 SOG) advantage in the statistical category.
Emma Brune provided the Redhawks a 1-0 lead at 12:16 in the first half. Brune converted her first goal of the campaign (fourth career) off assists from Houston and Faith Liljegren.
Liljegren paces the Redhawk in 2022 with four assists and is first in the OVC with three during league play.
Brune finished Sunday with a pair of shots on goal, competing in the full 90 minutes of regulation. The junior from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, has now competed in 14-straight full regulation contests (15 in 2022).
SEMO then dropped to 10 players on the pitch for the final 64 minutes after Katelyn Miller accumulated back-to-back yellow cards for the red in the 21st and 26th minutes.
UTM held a slight edge in shots, 7-6, in the first half.
The Skyhawks then capitalized on the player advantage and scored a pair of goals early in the second half to take a 2-1 lead. Makayla Robinson struck at 46:50 before UTM pulled ahead with a goal by Megan Drake.
Nye Prescod-Beckles, Ryann Mushkin, and Izzy Patterson were credited with assists on the two goals.
Patterson led UTM with four shots (3 SOG) to go with the assist.
Sophia Elfrink posted five saves for her eighth win of the season (8-6-2, 4-2-2 OVC).
Bastock made five saves while allowing four goals in the loss.
Robinson (39') and Catey Hunt (68') were both booked for yellows.
UTM earned seven corners compared to two for SEMO.
SEMO's eight wins in 2022 is the most in the past three seasons. The Redhawks have won seven or more games each of the past four campaigns.
SEMO last compiled four goals in an OVC game on Oct. 15, 2017, with a 4-1 decision over SIUE.