MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State Soccer Eagles once again picked up another home victory, this time defeating Merchurst 2-1 at MSU Soccer Field on Thursday afternoon.

MSU has now improved to 4-3 on the season, winning four straight home soccer matches and tying its longest home winning streak since the end of 2023 and start of 2024, when the Eagles rattled off four consecutive home victories. The Eagles have also established a five-match home unbeaten streak, their longest since that 2023-24 stretch.

Today's victory marked the first win in program history over Mercyhurst.

Once again, today's kickoff was in the midst of another hot day, with game temperatures in the 90s. 

The Eagles were quick to keep the ball on their front foot, driving the ball into Mercyhurt's defensive side of the field for most of the first half. 

In the sixth minute, MSU's offensive leader Charlotte Lee launched a shot from outside the box that was blocked by a Laker defender. The ball was kicked back out by Eagles' junior Ashton Lynam, who found sophomore Natalie Lentine, who buried the shot to put the Eagles up 1-0 early.

Later in the second half, Morehead State executed a beautiful combination play, leading to one of the prettiest goals of the season. Senior Molly Tapak sent the ball across the field into space for Hannah Burke, who delivered a perfectly placed cross in front of the goal for freshman Kendall Anderson to head it home, putting the Eagles up 2-0 in the 36th minute. 

Anderson's goal was also the first goal of her collegiate career, marking the seventh time an Eagle has scored their first collegiate goal this season.

Burke's assist is now her ninth career assist as an Eagle, putting her in sole possession of ninth place in program history.

The Eagles took their 2-0 lead into halftime, dominating possession in the first half and keeping the ball on Mercyhurst's defensive side of the field for 73% of the time.

The Lakers pushed the pace in the second half and looked like a rejuvenated offense. 

In the 54th minute, Mercyhurst midfielder Julia Bullock found the ball in a one-on-one, juked an Eagle defender and launched a shot from outside the box. Eagle keeper Allie Lammers made an incredible save, jumping as high as possible to deflect the ball over the goal.

The Lakers continued to push the tempo, finding the back of the net about seven minutes later in the 61st minute, thanks to a goal from Jenna Popowski. Lammers challenged Popowski at the top of the box creating a minor collision, but Popowski's ball bounced in Mercyhurst's favor, slowly trickling into the net for a Laker score.

Mercyhurst's goal stopped MSU's home shutout streak at 430 minutes and 15 seconds.

The Eagles would hold their lead for the remainder of the game, improving to 4-3 while dropping the Lakers to 1-5.

Morehead State led in shots, 17-5, while Mercyhurst held the advantage in shots on goal, 6-5. MSU also led in corner kicks, 5-4, and saves, 4-3.
 

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SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 1, LINDENWOOD 0
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Lindenwood women's soccer team (2-4-1) fell by a score of 1-0 at Southern Illinois (3-2-0) on Thursday night. The Lions recorded 11 shots in the match but only tested the SIU goalkeeper with one shot on goal.

The match entered halftime tied 0-0 with a combined six shots through the opening 45 minutes. Sophia Mueller registered the Lions' lone attempt on net while Caroline Ritter made one save in the half.

The contest remained scoreless until a Nao Katamoto goal in the 71st minute put the Salukis ahead 1-0. The Lions outshot SIU 8-4 in the half but could not turn any attempts on goal and were unable to find an equalizer.
 

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UT MARTIN 1, BELMONT 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team took a first-half lead in Thursday night's match against Belmont at the Skyhawk Soccer Field, but a late Bruins goal led to a 1-1 draw.

In the 44th minute, goalkeeper Mac Titus sent the ball downfield on a free kick, where Belmont popped it into the air inside their own box. Nasti Tanninen seized the free ball and headed it to the foot of Lia Sanvee. Sanvee passed the ball just in front of the goal, where Allie Carroll hammered it home for her second goal of the season.

As the clock ticked down, the Skyhawks looked poised for the second win of the season when Ava Meadors dug the ball out of the corner and sent it to the top of the box to find the foot of Reagan Ross. Ross needed just a short pass to Kaitlynn Elliot, who went to the left of Titus and tied the game at one in the 83rd minute.

Despite the goal, Titus ended the match with a career-high 10 saves, while Belmont goalkeeper Greta Genie made two.
 

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ARKANSAS STATE 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer created multiple chances in front of the net on Thursday night at Strassweg Field, but the Screaming Eagles could not get the ball to bounce their way in a narrow 1-0 loss against Arkansas State University.
 
After giving up an early goal, USI Women's Soccer (0-4-2) kept fighting to battle back against Arkansas State (2-2-2). The Screaming Eagles flipped the shot totals after halftime and generated multiple looks in front of the goal, but the ball would not find its way into the back of the net, as USI kept Arkansas State scoreless for the final 86 minutes of Thursday's contest.
 
USI ended up with a 15-12 shot advantage by the end of the game, flipping a 6-4 shot margin at halftime after the Screaming Eagles posted 11 shots in the second half compared to only six for the Red Wolves. Both teams placed six shots on goal in the match.
 
Senior forward Eva Boer led USI with three shots and matched graduate forward Payton Seymour with two shots on goal. Six Screaming Eagles recorded two or more shots on Thursday. Sophomore goalkeeper Merrick Schwalbach snagged five saves for the third time this season and for the second game in a row.
 
The game began with Arkansas State getting a couple of quick looks at goal in the first 2:30 of the match. It was the third opportunity at the 3:40 mark off a short-corner free kick that found its way in to give Arkansas State the 1-0 advantage. Following an initial save off a header, the Red Wolves' rebound attempt was kicked into the net.
 
Nearly five minutes later, junior forward Josie Pochocki took a shot from the wing that ended up just out of the reach of Seymour, who was trailing the shot on the back post side. As USI started to settle and find its footing in the contest, the Screaming Eagles almost had the equalizing goal late in the first half after putting the ball in the net, but it was waved off for offside, keeping the game 1-0 going into halftime.
 
In the middle of the second half, the Screaming Eagles strung together several good looks in the final third, but bodies kept getting in the way to block the shots. Boer had a close-range attempt that deflected off the Arkansas State goalkeeper. Freshman forward Morgan Wannemuehler was right there off the ricochet, but her follow-up attempt was also blocked away. A similar scenario occurred with under five minutes to go, with two shots by Seymour and Boer kept out of the goal by the Red Wolves netminder. USI did not get another quality opportunity before the final whistle.