Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State soccer team opened Ohio Valley Conference play in grand fashion as it unleashed five goals in a 5-1 win over Eastern Illinois on Sunday at the MSU Soccer Field in Morehead, Ky.

It has taken a while for the Eagles to find their offensive touch this season, but on Sunday seven different players contributed to the scoring effort, the team's highest goal tally since a 5-2 victory on Aug. 20, 2023, against Detroit Mercy and the most at home since Oct. 26, 2014, when it beat visiting EIU 5-0. The 14 points it accumulated ties for the seventh-best mark in school history, while the five goals ties for the fifth most.

A big part of the production came off the feet (and thigh) of sophomore forward Hedda Ornberg, who collected the sixth hat trick in school history and the first since Jade Flory accomplished the feat versus Illinois-Chicago on Aug. 29, 2014.

The offensive outburst was significant on several fronts.

It was the team's first win since Aug. 29, a stretch of 24 days and five games. It was a season high in shots with 24 (bettering the previous mark by four). It was the first victory over Eastern Illinois since Oct. 1, 2017 (and the first over the Panthers in Morehead since Oct. 9, 2016) and the first ever when EIU was the team's OVC-opening opponent (now 1-5-1).

Morehead State (4-3-3) had historically struggled in its first conference game of the season, but that record improved to 9-15-3 overall and 3-10-0 at home on Sunday, 14 years after it claimed its previous win in Morehead. However, the Blue and Gold have now won three straight OVC openers and are undefeated in its last four outings.

The victory raised the team's mark at home to 2-1-1 this fall and extended its overall unbeaten streak to three games and two straight in Morehead. Sunday was the final contest of a season-high two-game home stand.

MSU coach Paul Cox said the Eagles' offense had been knocking on the door for several weeks. Now it has been let inside.

The Eagles opened the scoring nine minutes and 26 seconds into the game when a redirected pass off an EIU player reached sophomore midfielder Mary Trudeau, who did a one-touch pass to Kennedy Baquero. The junior midfielder then collected the ball, turned her body and lofted a shot from 30 yards out in the middle of the field over the goalkeeper's head.

Ornberg tallied her first goal at the 28:45 mark. Freshman defender Ella Fuller dribbled down the right side and passed a through ball forward to Ornberg, who dribbled for about five yards and placed a shot into the bottom right corner of the net from 10 yards out.

MSU carried a 2-0 advantage into halftime and nearly made it 3-0 within seconds of the start of the second period, but senior forward Erin Fite's blast from near midfield ricocheted off the right post.

The third goal was a give-and-go from freshman forward Ava Peck to Ornberg, who dribbled for a few yards down the left side to within 30 feet of the goal on a 1v1, where Panther defender Colleen Bauer tried to free the ball with a slide tackle. Ornberg's shot then glanced off Bauer's extended leg and rolled inside the left post at the 55:06 mark.

A scramble for the ball in front of the net resulted in EIU's goal, ending a scoreless streak that had reached 410 minutes and 39 seconds. Abby Reinl came away with the ball, turned, took a dribble to the middle of the field and shot it over the head of MSU freshman goalkeeper Lilly Bailey from 12 yards out. The unassisted score came at the 59:31 mark.

In the 81st minute, Eastern Illinois thought it had scored again after one of its players kicked in a loose ball among a cluster of people just feet from the net, but the play was waved off due to an offside call.

About four and a half minutes later, the Eagles tallied their fourth goal. Sophomore defender Hannah Burke collected a pass that came from the left side of the field and was headed by an EIU defender. The ball then landed at Burke's feet, and she unleashed a blast from 20 yards out on the right side and inside the right post.

Fite moved into a tie for ninth on the MSU career assist list when she crossed the ball from the left side to Ornberg on the right of the goal box. Ornberg redirected the pass off her right thigh and into the left side of the net from eight yards out at the 87:37 mark.

Eastern Illinois (2-5-3) extended its winless streak to five games, fell to 0-3-2 on the road this season (and 0-4-2 dating back to last fall) and to 8-16-5 all time in OVC openers, including 0-4-2 in the last six years.

After holding a 10-1 edge in shots at halftime, Morehead State extended it to 24-8, including a 10-4 lead in shots on goal, by the end of the afternoon. Both teams took six corner kicks, with five of the Panthers' attempts coming in the final 45 minutes. The Blue and Gold held a 52-48 edge in possession percentage and kept the ball within 25 yards of the EIU goal for 42 percent, and on the visitor's side of the field for 58 percent, of its possession time.

MSU was whistled for nine fouls to Eastern Illinois' three and junior defender Gracen Houck picked up her team-leading third yellow card of the season, the only one issued in the game. EIU was flagged for being offside four times to Morehead State's two.

Nine Eagles had at least one shot. Trudeau led the way with six, followed by Ornberg with five. Peck and Fite each had three.

Reinl, Avery Richardson and Alex Tetteh each had two shots to pace the visitors.

Bailey played all 90 minutes and picked up her first win in goal. She finished with three saves. Reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week, Ashlyn Hoover, collected five saves, but allowed all five goals to fall to 2-5-3.

LITTLE ROCK 1, TENNESSEE TECH 0
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It was another thriller at the Coleman Sports Complex as the Little Rock Trojans shut out the reigning OVC regular-season champions, Tennessee Tech, for Peyton Urban's 10th career shutout. Candice Kilderry earned her second career game-winner after an opportunistic strike in the 12th minute.

The Trojans came out with a fiery offensive approach, keeping the ball in the attacking third at the start of the game. In the 12th minute, Shery Saad lined up a free kick and delivered a perfectly placed ball to Jaeda Centeno, who sent a header to Abbie Smith in the box. Instead of taking the shot, Smith passed the ball to Candice Kilderry, setting her up to find the back of the net. Kilderry's goal would ultimately prove to be the game-winner. The remainder of the half was a typical back-and-forth affair, as most have come to expect from Little Rock. The Trojans outshot the Golden Eagles 6-3 and recorded 2 saves, compared to the Golden Eagles' 1.

The second half mirrored the latter stages of the first. The Trojans had several chances to add insurance goals, but Tennessee Tech's strong defense kept the deficit at 1. Tennessee Tech came close to tying the game with a rainbow shot from outside the goal box, which would have found the net had it not been for the hustling Peyton Urban. Urban launched herself to deflect the ball over the goal, securing the victory for the Trojans.

SOUTHERN INDIANA 1, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's soccer (0-6-1, 0-0-1 OVC) picked up the first result of the 2024 season with a 1-1 draw over Southern Indiana (1-6-3, 0-0-1 OVC) on Sunday afternoon from Houck Field. 
 
Sunday's contest was the annual Meg Herndon Donate Life game to honor former Redhawk soccer player Meg Herndon who tragically lost her life in a traffic accident. The Redhawks wore special edition blue and green jerseys to help raise awareness for organ and tissue donation. 
 
The Redhawks rifled 10 shots, with a season-best six on target, led by forward Cayla Koerner who finished with six total shots with four on goal. Koerner tied the match in the 53rd minute with her first goal of the season. 
 
Southern Indiana took an early goal lead with a goal from Emma Schut in the fourth minute. The ball bounced around in the box before finding Schut's right foot for the early goal advantage. 
 
USI led 1-0 at the half and held a 6-2 shot advantage over the Redhawks after the first 45-minutes. Sophia Elfrink, who played the full 90-minutes in the match, registered a pair of saves in the first half. 
 
The Redhawks turned it around in the second half, firing eight shots in the second period, including the game-tying goal. 
 
Prior to her goal, Koerner had a phenomenal look at the net as her shot ripped off the crossbar early in the second half. 
 
Then in the 53rd minute, a beautiful play began by a ball forward to Emily Baker who settled on the left sideline setup the chance. Baker passed the ball into Alli Saviano who then found Koerner in the box to tie the match at one. 
 
Koerner had one more final shot-on-goal with just seconds remaining but USI's goalie stopped the final attempt as the match concluded at one goal each. 
 
The Redhawks concluded the match with a 10-9 shot advantage over Southern Indiana. Sophia Elfrink finished with three saves. 
 
Defender Sophie Shrum made her first collegiate start in Sunday's match and was one of five Redhawks who played the full 90-minutes.

LINDENWOOD 1, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - On Sunday, women's soccer hosted Western Illinois. The Lions would come out on top, winning 1-0 over the Leathernecks.

In the first half, both teams would be held off the scoring column. The Lions would outshoot the Leathernecks 17-1 in the first frame. Jordan Hollingsworth would make one save in net for the Lions. Lindenwood would have the 8-1 advantage in corner kicks in the half. With one half left to go in the match, Lindenwood would be tied 0-0 with the Leathernecks.

In the second half, much like the first, the Lions would dominate in the offensive end. In the half, Lindenwood would outshoot Western Illinois 14-0. The Lions would find the back of the net in the 75th minute to break the scoreless tie. Sophia Mueller would be attributed the goal assisted by Mackenzie Compton. Mueller's goal would be the eventual game-winner, with the Lions strong defense holding the Leathernecks to zero goals and one shot on net.

After the match, Lindenwood improves to 5-4 on the year and 1-0 in conference play. Hollingsworth got the nod in net making one save and earning her first clean sheet of the season.

UT MARTIN 2, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team held on to a one-goal advantage to secure three points in the conference standings with a 2-1 triumph over SIUE this afternoon at Korte Stadium.
 
Peyton Cook (50th minute) and Makayla Robinson (game-winner in 52nd minute) scored both goals for the Skyhawks while Robinson led the team in shots (three). Cook (one shot on goal), Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles (two shots, one shot on goal), Izzy Patterson (two shots, one assist), Brooke Kala (one shot, one assist), Anna Østergaard Ibsen (one shot) and Maren Cain (one shot) made up the offensive attack for UT Martin.
 
Goalkeeper Mac Titus faced 20 shots and made eight saves in 90 minutes. Titus joined Parker Gelinas, Lorena Montesano, Shayla Addington, Patterson, Kala and Østergaard Ibsen as Skyhawks who logged the full 90 minutes today.
 
UT Martin (2-4-3, 1-0 Ohio Valley Conference) peppered the SIUE backline with shots in the first half but the Cougars were efficient in their counterattack. Titus was active with three consecutive saves coming in the 19th, 21st and 22nd minutes to help keep SIUE off the scoreboard midway through the first half. The Skyhawks were able to carry a first half shutout into the break, credit to their work on defense and two more Titus saves in the 35th and 38th minutes.
 
In the second half, a clutch team save and yet another Titus stop took place in an 11-second span in the 49th minute.
 
UT Martin opened up the scoring in a big way when Patterson found Cook for a one-on-one opportunity. The Milford, Ohio native capitalized on that chance and found the back of the net for her first score of the season to give the Skyhawks a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the second half.
 
The UT Martin momentum continued as just 76 seconds later, Robinson received a pass from Kala and buried the shot past the Cougar goalkeeper to make the score 2-0. It marked the team-high third goal (and second game-winner) of the season for the senior forward out of El Cajon, Calif.
 
SIUE (1-5-2, 0-1 OVC) would answer with a goal off a free kick later in the 52nd minute but that would wrap up the scoring on the day. The Skyhawks held SIUE to just two shots on goal in the final 37 minutes as Titus hauled in saves in the 60th and 76th minutes to help UT Martin snag a league win in its first chance of the fall..