Ohio Valley Conference

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Early scores in each half coupled with a pair of key Maggie Conrad saves on penalty kicks led the Tennessee Tech soccer team to its first victory of the season. The Golden Eagles scored a goal within the first 10 minutes of the opening stanza to go along with two goals within the first 10 minutes of the second to knock off Southeast Missouri 3-0 at Tech Soccer Field.

Conrad's seven stops, which included denying the Redhawks on a pair of PK's, helped guide the Golden Eagles (1-7-4, 1-1-0 OVC) to their first clean sheet of the season.

Offensively, Meredith Nye split the pipes in the first half, while Katie Toney and Neve Renwick did the honors in the second to help push the purple and gold to its second-highest goal output in a match this season. The Tech victory is also the first in the head coaching career of Corey Boyd.

Nye unwrapped the scoring in the 10th minute with her 10th career goal, capitalizing on a Tech corner kick. Lucia Cuadra's corner moved to a crowd of Golden Eagles set up in front of the net. After an initial try was redirected, Skyler Williams' attempt was batted back to Nye, who burred the chance into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Golden Eagles the 1-0 edge. Williams earned her OVC-leading fourth assist on the go-ahead goal.

Leading 1-0, SEMO (0-7-1, 0-1-1 OVC) nearly squared the score in the final minute of the first half, but Conrad's first penalty-kick denial ensured a Golden Eagle lead into intermission. Conrad's halt off an Elizabeth Rater bid in the last 30 seconds of the period kept Tech on top into the break.

The Golden Eagles came out soaring in the second half with two quick scores to extend their edge to 3-0. Nye helped start the first second-half score after settling SEMO's try at clearing before pushing a pass to Cuadra, who promptly dished it to Toney inside the box. With her back to the goal, Toney turned and let loose with a drive that snuck under the crossbar in the 50th minute for her third goal of the season. Nye and Cuadra each earned assists on the play.

Five minutes later Tech put the finishing touches on the tilt's scoring behind a Renwick goal for the sophomore forward's OVC-leading seventh score of the season. The Sheffield, England product smacked a drive that deflected off a Redhawk and into the back of the net to put the Golden Eagles ahead 3-0 in the 55th minute.

Renwick would go on to tie a season-high with seven shots in the match. Cayla Koerner paced SEMO's side with four total attempts. The Golden Eagles outshot the Redhawks, 17-11.

With just over a minute to go in the affair, Conrad moved Tech to the finish line with her seventh and final save, once again spoiling SEMO's penalty-kick chance. The Golden Eagle junior goalkeeper made a leaping stop on a Justi Nelson attempt to essentially secure the shutout.

Sophia Elfrink made just two saves for SEMO.

MOREHEAD STATE 2, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
MACOMB, Ill. - For the third straight year, the Morehead State women's soccer team has started its Ohio Valley Conference campaign 2-0 as the Eagles dropped Western Illinois 2-0 on Thursday at the John MacKenzie Alumni Field in Macomb, Ill. It was the team's first-ever win over the Leathernecks.

Behind goals from freshman forward Ava Peck and sophomore midfielder Mary Trudeau, Morehead State (5-3-3/2-0-0) extended its unbeaten streak to four games. MSU also improved to 3-2-2 on the road this fall.

The Eagles' recent successes bring back an old theme from earlier this season. They have the best record after 11 games since 2014, when the squad began 5-2-4. It is the program's second-best mark at this point in the season in school history.

MSU has outscored its two OVC opponents 7-1.

Eagle head coach Paul Cox felt the team missed some golden chances to pad its lead, but play was slowed by a playing surface that he described as "thick grass."

Peck opened the scoring at 24:30 with her third goal of the year.

It was the lone score of the first half as MSU held an 8-1 edge in shots and 3-0 advantage in corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.

Western Illinois (0-9-0/0-2-0) salvaged an attempt by sophomore defender Natasha Tanner by clearing the ball off the line for a team save at 54:28.

Junior Gracen Houck carried the ball from her defensive position before being taken down in the box resulting in a penalty kick in the 67th minute. Trudeau was tabbed to take the shot, but her attempt bounced off the right post.

The Eagles had a few more chances the rest of the way, but did not break through again until two minutes and three seconds remained on the clock when Trudeau earned redemption for her missed PK.

Again, Ornberg was the catalyst, but her shot attempt ricocheted back and eventually found Trudeau.

Trudeau became the sixth different Eagle to score this year. It was her first career goal.

For the game, Morehead State held significant advantages in virtually every statistical category. It led 19-3 in total shots, including 7-0 in shots on goal. MSU also had five of the day's six corner kicks.

The hosts were whistled for nine fouls to the Eagles' five. The Blue and Gold were flagged for being offside four times to WIU's three. MSU also had two yellow cards. The Leathernecks had one.

Trudeau led the team with four shots. Ornberg, Peck and Tanner each had three. Kayla Turner, Callie McMurtrey and Alexis Betker notched one shot apiece to top the hosts. Freshman Lilly Bailey went the distance in the Eagles' net, but since the Leathernecks had no shots on frame, she had no saves.

Ariel Bernard had four saves in WIU's goal. The team was credited with a save as well.

MSU held possession of the ball for 56 percent of the game and 62 percent of the time it was in the Leathernecks' defensive zone.

Western Illinois dropped its ninth straight game and fell to 1-14-4 over its last 19 outings dating back to last fall. The Leathernecks are 0-4 at home this year and have been outscored 11-0 in those contests.

The all-time series between the two teams now stands at 1-1-1. It was the first-ever meeting in Macomb.

LINDENWOOD 0, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois opened the home portion of its Ohio Valley Conference schedule playing to a 0-0 draw with Lindenwood on Thursday afternoon at Lakeside Field.
 
The Panthers saw the return of Ella Kratochvil in goal posting the fourth shutout by EIU this season. Kratochvil finished with six saves.
 
Lindenwood goalkeeper Jordan Hollingsworth was equal to the task making three saves as she had a clean sheet.
 
EIU had three total shots on goal coming from Abby Reinl, Kayla Green and Alex Tetteh.
 
The Lions had six shots on goal, Mackenzie Compton had three of the six.

LITTLE ROCK 0, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's soccer battled to a 0-0 tie Thursday with Little Rock in Ohio Valley Conference soccer action at Korte Stadium.

SIUE outshot its opponent for the fourth straight contest. This time it was 15-3 over Little Rock. Ten different SIUE players recorded a shot.

Sidney Christopher led the charge with four shots while also taking an overwhelming majority of the 12 corner kicks for the Cougars.

MaryClaire Imig and Kasey Neidhardt each had two shots for SIUE.

Abby Haskell collected the shutout for the Cougars and finished with two saves. Peyton Urban was kept much busier in goal for the Trojans, recording seven saves.

SOUTHERN INDIANA 4, UT MARTIN 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer poured on the offense Thursday night at Strassweg Field in a 4-1 conference victory against the University of Tennessee at Martin.
 
In its second Ohio Valley Conference match this season, Southern Indiana (2-6-3, 1-0-1 OVC) had to battle less-than-ideal weather for the second time in as many weeks on Thursday with heavy rain falling off and on throughout the evening. The Screaming Eagles showed once again they were not fazed.
 
USI came out buzzing on the field and aggressive toward goal. Sophomore midfielder Pilar Torres set the tone with a pair of shots on goal within the first two minutes of the match. Recording several more shots in the opening minutes, Southern Indiana claimed a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute when Torres slotted a pass from the wing that was tapped inside the near post by junior midfielder Peyton Murphy, her first goal of the season.
 
Nearly seven minutes later, USI doubled its advantage to 2-0. Torres dished out her second assist of the night after dribbling down the field and finding junior midfielder Emerson Grafton to her left, who finished the play with her second goal of the season.
 
With under 10 minutes left in the first half, UT Martin (2-5-3, 1-1-0 OVC) looked to respond by putting a couple of shots on goal, including one that forced USI redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Anna Markland to make a highlight jumping punch-save over the crossbar. A few minutes later right before halftime, senior midfielder Adriana Berruti gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead with her first career goal after a throw-in by junior defender Brynn Quick and a connecting pass across the face of goal from Murphy.
 
Southern Indiana stayed strong defensively and remained on the offensive to start the second half of play. Following a pair of blocked shot attempts inside the box, the ball deflected out to the top of the 18 where junior defender Charli Grafton rifled a one-timer into the top-right corner of the goal to push USI's lead to four. It marked the first time the Grafton sisters scored in the same game.
 
The visiting Skyhawks got one goal back in the 73rd minute, but the Screaming Eagles did not relinquish their lead any further and secured the 4-1 victory.
 
Southern Indiana took 20 shot attempts Thursday evening, the most since USI had 21 in last season's 1-1 tie against UT Martin. USI placed eight of its 20 shots on goal on Thursday. The Skyhawks had five of its nine shots go on target. Plus, entering Thursday's action, USI and UT Martin were one and two, respectively, in the OVC for most fouls committed this season. The two sides combined for only 15 fouls Thursday.
 
Individually, Murphy led USI with four shots with Torres and Charli Grafton posting a team-high two shots on goal. Torres had three total shot attempts in addition to two assists. The last time a Screaming Eagles had a pair of assists in a game was in August 2022 when Morgan Beyer and Jill DiTusa each had two helpers against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Between the posts, Markland totaled four saves for USI.
 
After Thursday's action and claiming three points, Southern Indiana moved into a tie for second in the OVC standings with four points alongside Lindenwood University and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.