• Championship Central | Bracket (PDF)
The 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Soccer Championship continues with a pair of semifinal matches on Thursday. This year marks the 25th OVC Women's Soccer Tournament.
After first round and quarterfinal games were held on campus sites, the tournament has shifted to the site of the No. 1 seed, Tennessee TEch.
Fans can watch the entire 2023 OVC Women's Soccer Championship on ESPN+.
#1 Tennessee Tech 2, #8 Little Rock 0
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#2 Morehead State 1, #7 Southeast Missouri 0
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#1 TENNESSEE TECH 2, #8 LITTLE ROCK 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech soccer team will once again find themselves on the precipice of an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament.
In a semifinal bout with No. 8 Little Rock, the top-seeded Golden Eagles scored pair of second-half goals on the way to a 2-0 victory Thursday night in Cookeville to advance to the program's second-consecutive OVC Tournament final and fifth overall appearance in the title clash. The championship match is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT from Tech Soccer Field, a place the Golden Eagles have now gone unbeaten in nine straight contests.
Katie Toney, who was named the OVC Forward of the Year during Wednesday night's OVC Awards Banquet, came up in the clutch behind a missile of a goal in the 66th minute that unwrapped the scoring, before adding an assist on a Tori Soutuyo goal in the 72nd minute that padded the purple and gold's edge to 2-0.
Scoreless at intermission, the Trojans (7-5-8) paced the shot battle behind a 6-4 advantage and had the most serious threat of the first stanza thanks to an Amaya Arias drive in the 25th minute. The sophomore midfielder belted one toward the top left corner of the net, but Maggie Conrad was up to the task with a leaping stop that saw the junior keeper pop the attempt over the crossbar to keep the match preserved at nil-nil.
The tide turned in the second half thanks in part to a Golden Eagle 13-7 shot discrepancy that included Toney's goal that put Tech on the board. After possessing the ball near midfield, the McMinnville, Tenn. native patiently made her way up the pitch, before entering the box and letting loose on a drive that was poured perfectly into the upper left corner of the net. Toney's rocket was the sophomore's sixth score of the season.
The Golden Eagles (9-5-4) would go on to add insurance, with freshman Tori Soutuyo doing the honors a mere six minutes later. Neve Renwick started it all with a lengthy drive from Tech's portion of the pitch to a charging Toney near the far sideline. After Toney cradled the Renwick feed, the 5-foot-5 forward made her way into the box, before sliding a pass to Soutuyo who took care of the rest with her second goal of her rookie campaign.
Renwick, the OVC Freshman of the Year, led the match with seven shots. Arias sat atop the Little Rock leaderboard with four total attempts.
Maggie Conrad tallied her sixth shutout of the season behind four stops. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native has now blanked the opposition in two straight OVC Tournament semifinal matches after collecting a clean sheet in last year's 5-0 victory over Lindenwood. Little Rock's Peyton Urban notched two saves across the way.
#2 MOREHEAD STATE 1, #7 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Finally breaking through in the 83rd minute, the Morehead State Soccer team defeated Southeast Missouri 1-0 Thursday evening to advance to the Ohio Valley Conference championship match for the first time since 2013.
The Eagles (8-5-5) got a team-leading fifth goal of the season by first-team All-OVC member Kate Larbes at 82:21. Larbes' goal to the top corner was assisted by freshman Hedda Ornberg (first career assist) and sixth-year Colleen Swift (sixth career assist).
Meanwhile, the Eagle defense posted its eighth shutout of the season and fourth in the past five matches. Goalkeeper Erin Gibbs was credited with her eighth total shutout of 2023 as well, moving her to second on the MSU single-season shutout list.
The victory pushed the Eagles to their sixth all-time OVC championship match, which will take place on Sunday versus top-seeded Tennessee Tech at 2 p.m. ET. MSU won OVC titles in 2008, 2010 and 2013 and is now 4-1 all-time as the No. 2 seed.
Morehead State's fifth consecutive win equaled its best success streak since winning five straight in 2011. The eight wins this season is the most since winning nine in 2015.