SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 0, Lindenwood 0
Little Rock 1, @Southern Indiana 0
Morehead State 3, @UT Martin 1
@SIUE 1, Eastern Illinois 0
TENNESSEE TECH 0, LINDENWOOD 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Lindenwood women's soccer team (4-6-2, 1-1-1 OVC) played to a scoreless draw with Tennessee Tech (4-4-3, 2-0-1 OVC) behind eight saves from Sam Blazek on Sunday afternoon from Cookeville, Tenn.
The Lindenwood offense struggled to get anything going in the first half, but Sam Blazek stood tall in net, stopping all six shots faced in the opening 45 minutes of play. Tennessee Tech generated four corner kicks, but the Lions defense thwarted all opportunities, as the game was scoreless at the halftime break.
Lily Sutter opened the second half with Lindenwood's first shot on goal, but it was denied by the Golden Eagles keeper. The Lions defense continued its strong play throughout the second half, as the Golden Eagles compiled 14 shots in the second half, but only two on goal. Neither team was unable to break through in the second half with the game ending in a scoreless draw.
Tennessee Tech's Maggie Conrad made one stop in the match.
LITTLE ROCK 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer concluded their two-match homestand Sunday with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, as the game-winning goal was scored with just over two minutes remaining in the Ohio Valley Conference battle.
USI started the match aggressively in the attacking third, generating two shots within the first five minutes. Junior forward Morgan Beyer (Rossford, Ohio) and freshman midfielder Emma Thurston (Leawood, Kansas) had the two attempts at goal.
The middle portion of the first half saw the offenses quiet down a little, making the match a back-and-forth battle for possession in the midfield. The Screaming Eagles picked up their attack once again toward the tail end of the first half, getting two shots from freshman forward Payton Seymour (Louisville, Kentucky).
The match was scoreless at halftime. USI outshot Little Rock 5-0 at the break.
About 15 minutes into the second half, Little Rock threatened with a flurry of attempts inside the defensive box for USI. The mad scramble in the box ended with a save by senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) and cleared away by the USI defense to get the ball out of danger.
USI generated three more shots and a couple of corner kicks midway through the second half, but the back-and-forth battle continued. Then with just over two minutes remaining, and when it appeared that a scoreless draw was looming, Little Rock scored the game-winning goal. The Trojans' redshirt freshman forward Bronte Peel passed the ball to the wide right where sophomore defender Abbie Smith made a one-time cross to the box. Freshman midfielder Amaya Arias headed the cross into the goal for her third goal of the season. Peel and Smith were credited with assists.
In the match, USI outshot Little Rock 8-5, while the Trojans had two shots on goal to USI's one. Both teams recorded four corner kicks.
For USI, Beyer and Seymour led the team with two shots each, including one on goal for Seymour. In net, Etienne played the full 90 minutes with one save.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - Senior forward Sophia Mankowski scored her first goal of the season, but the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team could not slow down a high-scoring offensive attack by Morehead State, falling 3-1 at Skyhawk Field.
The Skyhawks (2-6-2, 0-2 OVC) fell behind early as Morehead State scored its first goal just 11 minutes into the contest before eventually seeing the deficit grow to three goals later in the game. UT Martin did get on the board in the 70th minute as Mankowski rifled a shot from the right boundary which deflected off a defender and into the goal for the second goal of her career.
The Eagles (5-4-1, 2-0 OVC) picked up their second straight league victory behind a two-goal performance by the team’s leading scorer Hadley Cytron. Fellow forward Nicole Fiantaco also had a nice afternoon as she added both a goal and an assist in the victory.
UT Martin tallied 14 shots in the contests – including nine in the second half with an increased offensive intensity. Makayla Robinson paced the team with a game-high five shot attempts while Izzy Patterson was close behind with three attempts of her own.
SIUE 1, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE's Lily Schnieders buried a 10-footer 2 minutes, 33 seconds into Sunday's Ohio Valley Conference contest against Eastern Illinois, and it held up for a 1-0 win.
The victory vaults SIUE to first place in the OVC with a 3-0 record and nine points. SIUE is 4-4-2 overall. Morehead State is 2-0 in OVC play while Tennessee Tech is 2-0-1.
Schnieders took a quick tap from Kasey Neidhardt and powered the ball past EIU goalkeeper Daniela Bermeo.
Eastern Illinois, 2-5-4 overall and 0-3 in the OVC, outshot the Cougars 15-14, including 11 in the second half.
Taylor Spiller earned her third shutout of the season. The reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week finished with a season-high 11 saves. Spiller made a pair of incredible saves in the 77th minute on back-to-back point blank shots from EIU's Zoe Paxton and Kenzie Balcerak.