Ohio Valley Conference

NASHVILLE - On Thursday, the Lindenwood women's soccer team took on Belmont in the Lions season opener. Lindenwood would pull out a 3-1 victory over the Bruins, with two first-year players notching their first goal as a Lion.

In the first half, Belmont would control possession of the ball for the first thirty minutes of play. Lindenwood would find their footing in the latter part of the frame, with Sophia Mueller scoring on a left-footed shot outside of the box, putting the shot in the top-right corner in the 43rd minute. After one half of play, Lindenwood would lead 1-0. In the first half, Lindenwood would have two shots on net. Jordan Hollingsworth would make three saves in the first half of play.

In the second half, Belmont would tie the match up at 1-1 in the first two minutes of the frame. Four minutes later, in the 51st minute, Mackenzie Compton scores a header off a corner kick, to put the Lions up 2-1. Compton's goal would be assisted by Tasneem Dizdarevic. Thirty minutes later, in the 81st minute, Anna Johnson heads a ball in the net, putting the Lions up two with eight minutes to go in the half. Johnson's goal would be assisted by Compton. The Lions would hold the Bruins scoreless for the final eight minutes of the match.

Hollingsworth started in net for the Lions, making four saves.

ARKANSAS STATE 2, LITTLE ROCK 0
JONESBORO, Ark. - Little Rock drops season opener at Arkansas State after going down 2-0 in the first half. Sherry Saad, Tianna Jones, Jetney Cook, Maria Schuller, and Ruth Barragan made their Trojan debut.

The Red Wolves struck first with a goal in the 3rd minute. The Red Wolves would later pad the lead just before the half time break with a laser from just outside the box in the 36th minute. The Trojans tallied 9 total shots with 5 on goal, 2 saves, and 3 corner kicks.

MOREHEAD STATE 1, MARSHALL 1
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Things looked bleak early for the Morehead State soccer team as it surrendered a goal and then lost its starting keeper to an injury within the first 20 minutes of its game against Marshall, but the Eagles battled back and left the Hoops Family Field in Huntington, W.Va., with a 1-1 tie in the season opener for both teams.

It was the debut for both head coaches and Morehead State's Paul Cox was pleased his squad was able to come away with a tie.

MSU controlled the action for most of the first 10 minutes of the first half, before Marshall was able to convert on its second opportunity of the evening as Bailey Fisher found Ebony Leckey for the game's first score. Seven minutes later, MSU starting goalkeeper Lilly Bailey leapt in the air to catch a ball on a cross and fell hard to the turf. She was replaced by freshman Claire Cress, who finished the last 72:06 with a clean sheet.

With less than five minutes to play in the half, freshman midfielder Ava Peck passed the ball from the right side across the goal mouth and found freshman forward Carlie Thurmond, who kicked the ball into an open net at the 40:26 mark.

The beginning of the second half was a mirror opposite of the first as the hosts controlled the action, but neither team could break the tie.

MSU had an opportunity to pull ahead after earning a free kick from 35-yards out with slightly more than 11 minutes left in the contest, but junior defender Gracen Houck's shot was caught by Marshall keeper Alexis Wolgemuth.

The first yellow card of the season was issued to Peck with 5:40 left in the game.

The result snapped a two-game skid for the Eagles against the Thundering Herd and was a measure of redemption for the team that dropped a 3-0 home decision with Marshall to open the 2023 campaign. MU entered holding an 8-1-2 series edge and had won every meeting in Huntington except a tie in 2011. The Thundering Herd have a 0-5-2 advantage on their home field versus the Blue and Gold.

MSU held a 9-8 edge in shots, a 4-3 lead in corners and committed four fewer fouls (8 to 12). Marshall was flagged five times for being offside to just twice for the Eagles. The hosts held the edge in possession 58 percent to 42 percent, but Morehead State had the ball in the Thundering Herd's defensive zone for 55 percent of the game.

Redshirt sophomore forward Jade Perrin paced the Eagles in shots with four. Leckey and Kajsa Ekstrom were Marshall's top shooters with two attempts apiece.

Both Cress and Bailey finished the night with one save. Wolgemuth went the distance for the hosts and made four saves.

The Eagles finished 2023 with a 5-5-1 record on the road but have now gone winless in their last four contests away from home.

SAMFORD 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Tennessee Tech soccer team's season opener swung Samford's direction as the Golden Eagles fell 3-1 Thursday evening at Shauna Yelton Field.

Trailing 2-0 early in the second stanza, Tech managed to cut the Bulldog lead in half behind a Neve Renwick goal in the 59th minute. The reigning OVC Freshman of the Year split the pipes to provide the purple and gold with a quick response after Samford (1-0-0) doubled up their edge a mere three minutes earlier on a Layton Glisson goal in the 56th minute.

Renwick's sixth-career score was made possible on an Abigail Davis feed for the sophomore's first career assist.

TTU's bid at providing an equalizer would ultimately go by the books after the Bulldogs made the road at a deadlock even steeper thanks to a third goal in the 79th minute. Fleming Dean did the honors, using a Brigid McElderry pass to help give Samford late insurance with a 3-1 advantage.

The Golden Eagles (0-0-1) fought to the end with three of the club's six shots on-goal in the final 10 minutes. Overall, Tech attempted eight shots, including six after intermission. Renwick paced the purple and gold with four tries, three of which were on-point. Glisson led the match with five total attempts.

The Bulldogs, who have claimed nine of the last 10 Southern Conference regular-season titles, unwrapped the scoring in the 29th minute behind after Anna Major found the back of the net for the squad's first goal of 2024. The successful try was one of 15 overall shots for the home side and one of seven on-goal.

Junior Maggie Conrad logged four saves in between the pipes, while Samford used a pair of goalkeepers to pick up the nod. Peyton Hull stopped four attempts and allowed the Golden Eagle goal in 39 minutes of action and Mia Krusinski halted one Tech try in 51 minutes of work.

17 Golden Eagles appeared in the contest with Conrad, Davis and Cheyenne McCloud going all 90 minutes. McCloud was one of seven TTU newcomer to make their way onto the pitch, joining Claire Payla, Lucia Cuadra, Allison Lee, Skylar Williams, Delaney Wade and Natalie Howard.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI vs. UMSL - POSTPONED
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's soccer (0-0-0) began the 2024 campaign on Thursday night against Missouri-St. Louis (0-0-0) at Houck Field. Due to lightning in the area, the game was cancelled at the halftime mark. 
 
According to NCAA policy, the game does not count as it did not surpass the 70-minute minimum to be considered a complete game. The stats from the first half of the contest will not count. 
 
The Redhawks and Tritons battled in the first 45 minutes as SEMO outshot the visitor's, 5-4. Forwards Emily Baker and Cayla Koerner led SEMO with three shots combined between the front duo. 
 
In the first half, nine Redhawks played the full 45-minute period as goalkeeper Madison Geisler, Alli Saviano, Cayla Koerner, Abbey Klund, Justi Nelson, Melissa Kubin, Alayna Jakul, Elizabeth Rater, and Kristin Anderson were in the starting lineup. 
 
For Klund, Saviano, and Anderson, Thursday's contest marked the first start in a SEMO shirt in their career. Goalkeeper Madison Geisler made just her second career start between the posts. 
 
Geisler recorded one save on the night in a big moment of the match. UMSL's Kendal White got in behind the SEMO defense and was one-on-one with the sophomore goalie. Geisler deflected the shot to keep the score at zero.

IOWA STATE 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
AMES, Iowa - The Leatherneck Women's Soccer team kicked off the 2024 season on Thursday night in a matchup with Big 12 outfit Iowa State. The Cyclones started off hot with a pair of goals inside 11 minutes, and tacked on another in the second half for a three-nil win. 

Iowa State put the pressure on Western early, as a lobbed through ball in the second minute was called just offside. In the seventh, the Cyclones were attacking near the corner flag on the near side, and earned a corner kick. They converted off the corner, belting in a shot off the 18-yard box into the bottom-right corner of the net to make it one-nil. 

Not three minutes had past before the Cyclones had earned another corner after Leatherneck defender Alanna Pennington headed away a cross into the box. Their second corner proved to be just as deadly as the first. After taking a bounce into the box, it found a Cyclone attacker who calmly put it away into the top right corner of the net. 

In the remainder of the first, Iowa State continued to threaten to score, totaling six corners in the first half, but the Leatherneck defense held strong heading into the break. Western would get a few chances heading into the break, including a free kick attempt from Pennington that was saved. 

ISU rebounded to start the second half, immediately putting the pressure back on. They fired off a few shots from outside the box, before chipping one in from about seven yards out to make it three-nil. A few minutes later, Rachel Balinao fell victim to a nasty challenge from a Cyclone midfielder that sidelined her for the rest of the game, and resulted in a yellow for Iowa State. 

The Cyclones had plenty more chances in the final 30, but the three-nil score held until the final whistle. In total, the Leathernecks were out-shot 24-4, as keeper Isabel Navas Rodriguez racked up seven saves.

SIUE 1, OMAHA 1
OMAHA, Neb. - Freshman MaryClaire Imig scored the SIUE's first goal of the season as well as her first collegiate goal Thursday as the Cougars and Omaha tied 1-1.

It was the season opener for both teams.

Macie Begley and Kelsey Kehoe provided the assists on Imig's goal. Imig scored from 22 yards out to left of Omaha goalie Mia Reedtz Rehde Olesen at 33:01.

Omaha led in shots early 5-2, but the Cougars evened the shots 5-5 by halftime. The Cougars finished with nine shots to Omaha's 10. Starters Sidney Christopher, Kasey Neidhardt and Savannah DeFini each had two shots.

The Mavericks scored the tying goal at 56:09 by Regan Zimmers from Reagan Bourgeois.

SIUE split halves in goal with Abby Haskell recording two saves in the first 45 minutes and Abby Haskell added one save in the second half.

LOYOLA CHICAGO 4, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHICAGO, Ill. - Loyola Chicago scored in the opening 15 minutes of play before adding second half insurance goals handing Eastern Illinois a 4-0 road loss in the season opener for the Panthers.

EIU was held to just one shot on goal in the match off the foot of Ella Dwyer.  The Panthers registered just five total shots in the match, with three from forward Alex Tetteh.  The final EIU shot was credited to Carys Grieve.

Emily Rossi scored what proved to be the match winner in the 13th minute on a goal to the bottom right of the net off an assist from Zoe Hevey.

Rossi added her second goal just five minutes into the second half.  The Ramblers then had late second half goals by Jocelyn Leigh (74th minute) and Lydia Case (80th minute).

NORTH ALABAMA 1, UT MARTIN 0
FLORENCE, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team fought hard in the season opener this evening but fell to North Alabama by a score of 1-0.
 
The Skyhawks were led in shots by Izzy Patterson and Peyton Cook with two attempts apiece while both of Cook's tries were on goal. Makayla Robinson, Brooke Kala (one shot on goal) and Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles (one shot on goal) each fired a shot apiece while freshman Unni Wolf put a shot on goal.
 
Mac Titus made her Skyhawk debut in goal and snared five saves against 11 North Alabama attempts. Parker Gelinas, Allie Buchmann, Shayla Addington and Patterson played the full 90 minutes for UT Martin.
 
Titus made four saves in the opening half alone, all coming during a 25-minute stretch. The Skyhawk offense came out aggressive as both Wolf and Cook let the first two shots on goal of the match fly in the first 18:25 but the match was knotted in a scoreless tie at the break.
 
However, North Alabama punched through in the 64th minute with a goal from Giada Aldini. The stingy UT Martin defense held the Lions to only two more shot attempts the rest of the way.
 
Cook (78th minute) and Kala (84th minute) were each responsible for a shot on goal to potentially even the score late in the contest but the Lions came away with a pair of saves.