Ohio Valley Conference

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer fell to Eastern Michigan University, 3-1, on Thursday afternoon at Strassweg Field after Eastern Michigan broke up a 1-1 tie with a pair of second-half goals.
 
USI, which was beginning a three-match homestand on Thursday, saw its goal in the contest come off the foot of senior defender Brynn Quick for her first career goal. Overall, the Screaming Eagles notched five shots. Sophomore midfielder Emma Schut led USI with two shots. Between the posts, freshman goalkeeper Merrick Schwalbach made four saves in her first career start.
 
Eastern Michigan registered its three goals off 10 shot attempts with seven shots on target.
 
The Screaming Eagles got an early chance in Thursday's battle when redshirt sophomore forward Eva Boer, who is the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week, took a shot inside the box that was blocked and kick-saved away by the EMU goalkeeper.
 
Defenses controlled most of the first half, with shots coming at a premium. USI's defense thwarted a few shot attempts in the middle of the first stanza. However, Eastern Michigan struck for the opening goal in the 27th minute on a free kick that deflected in. The game remained 1-0 going into halftime.
 
It was merely four minutes into the second half when Quick scored the equalizer for USI, making the score 1-1. The assists went to redshirt junior midfielder Emma Thurston and senior forward Peyton Murphy, who connected a couple of headers off a corner kick for the eventual tap-in tally by Quick.
 
In the minutes that followed, Eastern Michigan picked up momentum in the attacking half. The EMU Eagles jumped back in front, 2-1, with a goal in the 62nd minute. Then Eastern Michigan tacked on another with 73:55 on the clock to make it a 3-1 game.
 
USI's Schut attempted both of her shots on the day inside the final 10 minutes to help spark the Screaming Eagles, but Eastern Michigan maintained its 3-1 advantage into the final whistle.

MISSOURI STATE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Women's Soccer (0-4-0) fell to Missouri State (2-2-1), 3-0, at Houck Stadium on Thursday evening. 
 
The first half saw Southeast Missouri State and the Bears locked in a competitive match, with the visitors taking an early lead. Emma Shields scored the lone goal of the half in the 29th minute, assisted by Reilly Heman. 
 
The Redhawks' defense was active in the first half, with goalkeeper Cayla Koerner making key saves, including stopping shots from Abby Hansen and Jane Hansen. SEMO recorded first half shots from Justi Nelson, Zerina Markovic, and Maya Domian but the half ended with the Bears leading 1-0. For Koerner, the start in net was the first of her Redhawks career. 
 
The second half began with MSU extending their lead with two quick goals, one by Heman in the 50th minute, assisted by Julia Kristensen, and another by Brooke Cattoor a minute later, bringing the score to 3-0. 
 
SEMO attempted to respond, with Domian's shot on goal at 51 minutes being saved by the Bears' goalkeeper Becker. 
 
Despite several attempts, including a shot by Emily Baker at the 59th minute and Alyssa Schulte at the 82nd minute, the Redhawks could not find the back of the net. 
 
Markovic led SEMO in shots on Thursday night, recording one shot on goal. Domian also contributed with two shots, both on target, matching the team's highest shots on goal. Nelson added to the offensive effort with one shot on goal. In goal, Koerner played the full 90 minutes, making four saves on 16 shots faced.

TENNESSEE TECH 1, ETSU 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech soccer team checked off a couple of boxes in its Thursday evening tangle with ETSU.

The Golden Eagles picked up their first goal of the year on the way to their first draw of 2025 in a 1-1 deadlock with the Buccaneers at Tech Soccer Field.

The tilt's scoring took place in the first stanza, with the purple and gold striking first in the 23rd minute. Ebba Melin did the honors thanks to a Claire Palya free kick that was placed perfectly to a streaking Melin who headed in the try for her second-career goal. Palya picked up the assist on the set piece that pushed the Golden Eagles (0-4-1) to the early edge.

ETSU (1-2-2) responded to the early set back with an Ava Duffey score in the 34th minute that knotted the contest at 1-1. Duffey's goal saw the sophomore from Signal Mountain, Tenn. let loose on a drive at the edge of the box that just creeped under the crossbar to pull the Bucs even.

Duffey's goal was the only one that snuck past Conrad, who collected a season-best eight stops. ETSU keeper Addison Yelton did not have to make a save over the course of the contest.

Tech made the most of its opportunities with only two shots in the match. Melin split the pipes, while Lucia Cuadra took an attempt in the 84th minute.

The Buccaneers notched 20 shots, with nine on-frame. Regan Fitzgerald and Jada Cooper each collected a match-leading six tries.

OLE MISS 1, UT MARTIN 0
OXFORD, Miss. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team mostly survived a barrage of shots by Ole Miss, but a Rebel goal in the 21st minute ultimately sealed the game, dealing the Skyhawks a 1-0 loss, their first of the season, Thursday night at the Ole Miss Soccer Complex in Oxford.

While Ole Miss ended the match with 18 shots, they had trouble putting them on target, with only five going on goal. However, one shot that found its mark came in the 21st minute from Tate Blincoe, which slipped past Titus and proved to be all the scoring the Rebels needed in the match.

The Ole Miss defense proved equally as effective as its offense in the match, holding the Skyhawks to just three shots. However, the shot selection for the Skyhawks was on point as two of the three shots were on target, with shots on goal from Unni Wolf and Buchman.

Titus made four saves on the night in the first 80 minutes, while Jordyn Riffle kept the Rebels off the board in the last 10 minutes of action. Both teams ended the match with 10 players after red cards were issued to the Rebels' Isabella Gray and Titus.

EASTERN KENTUCKY 5, MOREHEAD STATE 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Visiting Eastern Kentucky scored four unanswered second-half goals and rolled past the Morehead State women's soccer team 5-1 on Thursday night at the MSU Soccer Field in front of a boisterous near record crowd.

With the victory, the "Bluegrass Cup", fought over by the two programs since 2005, returned to the Colonels after the Eagles won the meeting in Richmond, Ky., last year.

The margin of defeat was the Eagles' largest since falling on the road to SIU Edwardsville on Oct. 3, 2021. In that outing, the Blue and Gold dropped a 5-0 decision.

Still, there were positives.

Morehead State (1-3-0), desperate to find some offense after scoring only once in the first four games and managing a total of 18 shots, got a goal from graduate student midfielder Karissa Vela.

The Eagles also outshot Eastern Kentucky (4-1-0) 16-15 and had more corner kicks (4-3). The shots were a season high and the first time this season MSU took more than its opponent.

After EKU's Emma Spivey's header scored off an assist from Chiara Premoli on a set piece in the 37th minute, Vela got the equalizer two minutes and 35 seconds into the second half after a double assist from junior defender Hannah Burke and sophomore forward Carlie Thurmond.

However, defensive breakdowns led to the next three goals, including two off set pieces and a third off a penalty kick.

The Colonels' Sydney Taylor was taken down in the box by freshman defender Olivia Lowe in the 50th minute, and Taylor sent the penalty kick into the left side of the net.

Nine minutes and 28 seconds later, the Colonels pushed the margin to 3-1 after Taylor converted a Premoli corner kick.

The fourth goal was similar to the third, with Ella Grode converting off passes from Maddie Murphy and Ana Manning at 61:02.

The final score came at 70:45, when Emma Wolf converted a Nicki Klosterman pass and squeezed it inside the left post.

MSU continues to lead the "Bluegrass Cup" regular-season series 9-7-2, although EKU is 5-1-1 in the last seven meetings, not including an exhibition victory in 2023.

The Eagles also have dropped their last two outings and fell to 1-2 at home on the season.

In addition to shots and corner kicks, MSU won the battle of fouls (nine versus 10). EKU received the lone yellow card. Both teams were flagged for being offside once.

A total of 11 players across both teams took a team-high two shots. The Eagles in that group included Vela, Burke, Thurmond, junior midfielder Hannah Carter and freshman defender Faith Peper.

Taylor was the lone Colonel to put both of her shots on goal.

MSU sophomore goalkeeper Claire Cress made several nice plays but was only credited with two saves. EKU's Ruby Morgan registered six saves and the visitors were also beneficiaries of a defensive save.

ILLINOIS STATE 5, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
NORMAL, Ill. - Western Illinois women's soccer suffered a 5-0 defeat to Illinois State Thursday night. The Leathernecks entered the match aiming to rebound from back-to-back defeats against Drake and UNI, but could not get a rhythm offensively throughout the game. 

ISU did the damage early on, scoring four times in the first half to build a lead too large for the Leathernecks to overcome. The Redbirds outshot the Leathernecks 27-2 on the night, including a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal.

DRAKE 2, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Two first-half goals by visiting Drake upended SIUE Thursday in nonconference women's soccer at Korte Stadium.

SIUE dropped to 1-3-1 after the 2-0 loss to the Bulldogs, which improved to 2-1-2.

Kristen Keller recorded nine saves in goal for the Cougars in her collegiate debut. Addie Ford had one save for the Bulldogs.

Eve Blakey scored both goals for Drake, her fourth of the season at the 6:13 mark and her fifth of the season at 14:03.

KANSAS CITY 3, LINDENWOOD 2
KANSAS CITY - The Lindenwood women's soccer team (3-1-1, 0-0-0 OVC) suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday night as they fell 3-2 against Kansas City (3-2-0, 0-0-0 Summit) on the road.

The first half was a defensive struggle early on with neither side recording a shot until Ava Blum put an attempt on target nearly 13 minutes in that was saved by the Kansas City goalkeeper. Blum would continue to stay aggressive with a shot off the nearside post a few minutes later.

The Roos would not record their first shot of the game until nearly halfway through the first half, but shortly thereafter, Delfina Zolesio Fernandez Blanco scored with a glancing header on of a cross to put Kansas City in front.

However, Lindenwood quickly responded with a goal by Ava Blum less than two minutes later, as her third shot of the night found the back of the net. Blum was assisted by Mackenzie Compton and Anna Johnson on the play.

The score remained tied until the game's 40th minute, when Zolesio Fernandez Blanco scored her second goal of the game to give the Roos a 2-1 edge heading into the break.

In the second half, Kansas City extended their lead with a counterattack goal by Ashley Koch with a little over 20 minutes remaining.

The Lions refused to go down without a fight, though, and after drawing a foul in the box, pulled within a score on a penalty kick goal by Tasneem Dizdarevic. It was Dizdarevic's second conversion from the spot this season.

Lindenwood would keep the pressure on with three shots in the game's final 17 minutes, but were unable to find the equalizer.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 2, VALPARAISO 1
VALPARAISO, Ind. - Abby Reinl scored twice including the match winner in the 78th minute as Eastern Illinois women's soccer won 2-1 on the road at Valparaiso.

EIU trailed 1-0 at the half after the Beacons Kiara Desiderio scored in the 34th minute.
 
Reinl would knot the match at 1-1 with her first goal in the 61st minute on an assist from Ella Dwyer.
 
The match winner game in the 78th minute assisted by goalkeeper Ella Kratochvil.  Kratochvil picked up the win in goal making two saves.
 
EIU improved to 2-3 on the season.   Valpo fell to 1-2-1.