THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Western Illinois 0, Southeast Missouri 0
@Morehead State 2, UT Martin 0
SIUE 2, @Eastern Illinois 1
@Little Rock 0, Southern Indiana 0
Tennessee Tech 3, @Lindenwood 0
WESTERN ILLINOIS 0, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
MACOMB, Ill. - The Leathernecks played their first ever conference match as a member of the Ohio Valley on Thursday. Western welcomed the Redhawks of Southeastern Missouri State in a match that was highly contested - but saw neither team able to find the back of the net.
On a gloomy Thursday afternoon, neither team got much action in the first twenty-five minutes of the match. SEMO got a pair of corner kicks just inside the ten minute mark but were unable to convert on the set pieces. In the 26th and 30th minute, freshman Alanna Pennington, who has already recorded a brace this year, attempted two shots that were saved by the SEMO keeper. Senior defender Sarah De Gannes made a few nice plays in the first half, including a booming header that sent the ball upfield for a Leatherneck chance, and a great tackle in the box that denied a goal-scoring chance.
In the second half, the Redhawks flipped the switch offensively, taking a total of eleven shots, but Leatherneck keeper Isabel Navas Rodriguez put on a show, as she made six second half saves to keep a clean sheet. Her seven saves on the day were just one-shy of her season high of eight, done against Loyola Chicago. The Leathernecks were able to hold on, getting their first point of the Ohio Valley Conference Season.
Southeast Missouri's Sophia Elfrink made three saves to secure the shutout.
SEMO (4-2-2, 0-0-1) took their second tie of the season on Thursday. The Leathernecks (2-4-2, 0-0-1) open OVC play with a point. Western will travel to Morehead State on Sunday to take on the Eagles in the Leathernecks' second OVC match.
MOREHEAD STATE 2, UT MARTIN 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State Soccer improved to 2-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference race with a 2-0 win over UT Martin at home Thursday, propelled by goals from Sidney Palla and Sarah Faloon.
With their third straight unbeaten match, the Eagles moved to 3-4-3.
MSU had three shots on goal, with two beating UTM goalkeeper Poppy Bastock to the back of the net. Palla netted her second career goal at 40:47, assisted by Erin Fite - Fite's third career assist.
The Eagles made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute, when Faloon notched her first career goal. On a corner kick, Hannah Burke collected her first career assist when Faloon finished the play to the back of the net.
MSU led the Skyhawks in shots, 8-6, and dominated in corners, 7-1. UTM took five shots on goal, with MSU goalkeeper Erin Gibbs posting her second straight OVC shutout with five saves. UTM posted a flurry of shots near the end of the match, with Gibbs thwarting all three.
SIUE 2, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Macie Begley's goal in the 73rd minute Thursday lifted SIUE women's soccer to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at Eastern Illinois.
SIUE opened the Ohio Valley Conference season with a win as Begley scored from 10 yards out on a pass from Matea Diekema. Begley became the 11th different player to score a goal this season for the Cougars.
The Cougars, 3-4-1 overall and 1-0 in the OVC, controlled the flow of the game, outshooting the Panthers 17-5 and collecting 13 shots on goal.
Eastern Illinois, 1-5-2 and 0-1 in the OVC, opened up the scoring at 15:30 when Zenaya Barnes went high for her goal off a pass from Carys Grieve.
SIUE rebounded 15 minutes later when Jay Viola assisted on Aleah Minehart's first goal of the season. The goal by Minehart was the 10th different player to score for SIUE this season.
Minehart led the Cougars with three shots while Kasey Neidhardt, Savannah DeFini and Diekema provided two shots each.
Taylor Spiller earned the win in goal for the Cougars and had one save. Ella Kratochvil finished with 10 saves in the loss
LITTLE ROCK 0, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock and Southern Indiana played to a scorless draw on Thursday night. It was the OVC opener for the Screaming Eagles to bring their league record to 0-0-1 while they've gone 1-5-4 overall. The Trojans are 0-1-1 in OVC play while they are 3-2-5 overall.
Peyton Murphy led USI with two shots in the match. Anna Markland played all 90 minutes in goal, making a pair of saves to earn the shutout.
Bronte Peel and Karina De Paoli each had two shots to lead the Trojans. Peyton Urban and Marie Cimatti split time in goal for Little Rock with Urban making two saves.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, LINDENWOOD 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - An early second-half surge to the tune of three goals within the first 15 minutes after intermission, coupled with a lights out defensive showing, led the Tennessee Tech soccer team to a 3-0 victory at Lindenwood in Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference opener.
Bailey Taylor unwrapped the scoring in the 51st minute, before Meredith Nye tallied goals in the 58th and 60th minutes for her first career two-score match to help the Golden Eagles to a season-high tying three net-finders and a season-best 24 shots. With the win, Tech (2-4-3, 1-0-0 OVC) pushes its unbeaten streak to three straight, outscoring its opponents 8-3 in the trio of contests.
The Golden Eagles also run their OVC regular-season unbeaten streak to 15 in a row, dating back to the beginning of October 2021.
Defensively, TTU's first clean sheet of 2023 saw the purple and gold limit Lindenwood (2-6-1, 0-1-0 OVC) to just two total shots, the lowest amount Tech has yielded in a match since holding Lindenwood to just one attempt in last year's regular-season meeting in Cookeville on Sept. 25, a span of 16 matches. The Lions attempted both shots in the first half and had only one shot on-goal behind a Lauren Tyson try in the 14th minute that was gobbled up by Maggie Conrad.
Shortly after the Lions' first bid on-goal, Lindenwood received a red card in an effort to avoid a Katie Toney goal in the 17th minute. A through ball to the Golden Eagle sophomore had her in a position to beat just the keeper, but a Lion grabbed Toney from behind to avoid the almost certain score and prompt the card that put Lindenwood a player down for the rest of the match.
Immediately after the red was flashed, Yao Giada Zhou almost dented the scoreboard on a free kick from the edge of the box that slammed off the left post to keep the match scoreless, but after the break, Tech's attack ignited with three early second-half scores.
Bailey Taylor tied Neve Renwick for the team lead with her third goal of the campaign, using Renwick's assistance for the score after the freshman's initial drive deflected off Lindenwood keeper Erika Anstine and right to a charging Taylor who buried the chance to put Tech ahead 1-0 in the 51st minute. Taylor's take put the Powell, Tenn. product in rarified air thanks to her 15th career goal that moved the senior forward into the top 10 in program history in career scores. Taylor is now knotted with Ellie Iaciofano (2010-13), Jen Hoffman (2006, 08-10), Jocelyn Daniel (2002-06) and Kristin Stegeman (2000-01) for eighth place on the list.
Moments later, it was Meredith Nye's turn to etch her name into the scoring column thanks to a pair of goals in less than a two-minute span to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 edge. Nye's first net-finder came seconds after a Tech corner that saw Katie Toney feed a pass through traffic in front of the net that caromed off a Lion and to Nye, who promptly found the back of the cage to double up Tech's lead in the 58th minute.
Nye's second score was made possible on a pair of passes from Renwick and Toney, who both tabbed assists on the play in the 60th minute. Renwick notched her first career assist, while Toney's helper was the McMinnville, Tenn. native's second of the season.
Renwick, who came into Thursday's league opener tied for the conference lead with 20 shots, picked up a match-high five attempts for the Sheffield, England product's second-highest total of the year. Four of Renwick's attempts were on-frame, also the most in the contest.
Maggie Conrad needed just one save en route to her first shutout of the season and eighth of her Tech tenure. Across the way, Erika Anstine halted nine Golden Eagle tries.