SUNDAY’S SCORES
Little Rock 4, @Eastern Illinois 2
@Morehead State 2, Lindenwood 0
Southern Indiana 1, @UT Martin 1
Tennessee Tech 1, @Southeast Missouri 0
@SIUE 4, Western Illinois 2
LITTLE ROCK 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Little Rock Soccer earns the first conference victory of the year after defeating the Eastern Illinois Lions 4-2.
This late season battle was truly a tale of two halves. Eastern Illinois dominated the first half of play and got out to an early 1-0 lead after scoring a goal in the 16th minute. Despite being behind in goals, the Trojans out shot the Lions 8-2. The Lions would retain a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
In the second half, the Trojans found their stride and hit the ground running. Bronte Peel led the way scoring two goals within five minutes to gain the lead. Candice Kilderry followed suit with her second career goal in the 77th minute. Amaya Arias notched the final Trojan goal in the 81st minute to allow the Trojans to go up to 4-1. The Trojans would then fall victim to an unlucky penalty in the box allowing the Lions to score one more goal off of a penalty kick in the 88th minute.
The Trojans leave Charleston as the 7th seed in the OVC and in striking distance of higher seeds. With two games left in the year, the Trojans now look to clinch a post season birth.
MOREHEAD STATE 2, LINDENWOOD 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State soccer held control for a majority of the match and was able to find the back of the net twice as the Eagles defeated Lindenwood 2-0 Sunday on Senior Day at the MSU Soccer Field.
MSU, which controlled possession for 72 percent of the 90 minutes, improved to 5-5-5 overall and 4-1-2 in the OVC race. With 14 points in the table, the Eagles remained in second place. The Lions, who have dropped both matches in the short-lived series with MSU, fell to 3-11-1 and 1-6-0 in the league.
After a scoreless first half, the Eagles held a 10-3 shot advantage. They also took 10 shots in the second half and didn't allow a shot by the visitors, resulting in a decisive 20-3 upper-hand in attempts. MSU also held a 9-1 lead in shots on goal.
Early in the second half, MSU broke through. Following passes from fifth-year Nicole Fiantaco and fifth-year Kate Larbes, junior Erin Fite buried her first goal of the season and second of her career. Fiantaco collected her third assist of 2023, while Larbes tallied her second.
In the 79th minute, freshman Hedda Ornberg registered her team-high fourth goal of the campaign after a through pass from sixth-year Colleen Swift. Ornberg and Swift are now tied with four goals apiece, and Swift was credited with her second assist of the year and fifth of her long career.
MSU also had a 5-0 advantage in corner kicks.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 1, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team found a 1-1 draw in a physical match with Southern Indiana where both teams combined for 41 shots.
Izzy Patterson scored her third goal of the season while leading the team with a career-high nine shots. Makayla Robinson (three), Peyton Cook (two), Allie Buchmann (two), Catey Hunt (one), Shayla Addington (one), Brooke Kala (one) and Rachel Okoro (one) accounted for the remainder of the attempts for the Skyhawks.
Freshman Andrea Wie got the start in goal making four saves in over 67 minutes then Poppy Bastock subbed in to finish the remainder of the match, notching one save. UT Martin received gritty 90-minute performances from Hunt, Walters, Stinson, Patterson, Addington, Buchmann and Kala.
The day started off with a bang from the Skyhawks when Patterson scored a screamer from outside the box in the 10th minute. Following the score, both teams traded chances, but no one could break through for the remainder of the first half.
As the second half began, Southern Indiana applied pressure and broke through for the equalizer courtesy of Greta Ohlwein in the 55th minute. Tough defense defined the second half and while both sides had chances, no one could cash in for the game-winner.
TENNESSEE TECH 1, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Another Sunday and another win for the Tennessee Tech soccer team, as the Golden Eagles scored in the early stages of the second half to come away with a 1-0 victory over Southeast Missouri at Houck Field.
Tech's triumph not only keeps the Golden Eagles undefeated and in first place in the OVC, but the hard-fought win also extends TTU's conference regular-season unbeaten streak to 21-straight league matches, tying Samford (2005-07) for the second-longest such streak in OVC history. Tech (7-4-4, 6-0-1) secured another piece of program history as well, claiming a victory in Cape Girardeau for the first time since 1999.
Overall, the Golden Eagles have gone unbeaten in nine-consecutive clashes to tie the 2017 club for the longest unblemished streak in program history.
A set-piece chance led to the purple and gold to unwrapping the scoring, using a Yao Giada Zhou corner in the 56th minute to take the 1-0 edge. The senior midfielder placed a perfect ball into a crowd near the net that saw Neve Renwick climb the ladder and head it into the back of the net for the early second-half advantage. Renwick's score tied her with Bailey Taylor for the second-most goals on the team as well as the second-most in the OVC, while Giada Zhou's assist bumped her helper total to a league-best six.
Tech's clean sheet marked the club's fifth blanking in seven league affairs. Maggie Conrad needed only three saves for the shutout, which included just one just one stop after intermission. Sophia Elfrink collected six denials for the Redhawks (6-5-3, 2-3-2 OVC), with two in the first half and four more in the second.
Katie Toney paced the purple and gold with three shots, including two tries on-point. Emma Brune and Emily Baker each had a pair of bids to lead the SEMO attack.
A defensive battle took center stage in the first stanza in which the Golden Eagles once again blanked an opponent over the first 45 minutes to run Tech's string of first-half goose eggs against the opposition to 10-consecuitive contests. Overall, the first period featured just six combined shots, with each squad attempting three tries, including two on-goal for each club.
SIUE 4, WESTERN ILLINOIS 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's soccer turned in its top offensive performance of the season Sunday, besting Western Illinois 4-2 at Korte Stadium.
The Cougars improved to 5-5-4 overall and 3-1-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE now stands tied for third place in the OVC standings with two games to play. Next week the Cougars travel to UT Martin for a Thursday contest followed by the regular season home finale next Sunday against Morehead State.
Two scores in 27 seconds provided a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Jay Viola opened the scoring at 35:58 as she was in the goalie box and delivered a tap in after Kasey Neidhardt headed the ball into the goalmouth off a corner kick from Sidney Christopher.
Christopher scored seconds later at 36:25, her team-leading third goal of the season, from close range off a pass from Kaitlyn Nichols.
Christopher would finish the day with a goal and two assists.
In the second half, SIUE turned up the pressure as Aleah Minehardt and Kaitlyn Nichols added goals at 52:20 and 62:32, respectively,
SIUE's pressure gave it a distinct advantage on possession time while scoring a season-best four goals.
Western Illinois would score late in the game on a pair of penalty kicks by Sachiko Gamo.