COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's soccer team has two weekends left of regular season play, and will take on all four remaining OVC opponents in Cookeville beginning with Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois this coming weekend.
Headed into the weekend with a 2-11 overall record (0-4 in the OVC), Tech will host the Redhawks of SEMO on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Sitting in second place in the OVC with a 3-2 record (9-6 overall,) SEMO is coming off of a 3-0 home loss to current frontrunner Morehead State. The Redhawks have maintained a slight edge on the Golden Eagles since their first meeting in 1999, leading the lifetime series with a record of 4-7-1.
Last year, Tech took a loss at the hands of the Redhawks in a one-nil game. Single goal decisions have been a trend for SEMO this season as well; 11 of their contests thus far have been resolved by one goal and the Redhawks have a 7-4 record in single-goal games. TTU has suffered five single-goal losses this season.
"SEMO has won three of their past four games, falling only to Morehead who are sitting in the OVC driver's seat," said head coach Daniel Brizard. "They've split all of their road contests so far with a 3-3 overall traveling record, so we're hoping to join the group of opponents to hand them a road loss."
The Golden Eagles will follow up with an afternoon game on Sunday against the Panthers of Eastern Illinois. 2-2-1 in the OVC and 5-8-3 on the season, the Panthers notoriously dominate Tech, having the upper hand on a 3-13-2 record and putting up 43 goals to Tech's 17 since 1996.
In 2009, the Golden Eagles took the Panthers into double overtime twice, notching a 2-2 tie during the regular season and grabbing the 3-2 win in the first round of the OVC Tournament.
EIU comes to Cookeville riding a 1-0 home upset over no. 3 in the conference, Eastern Kentucky and a 0-0 tie with no. 1 Morehead. On the road, however, the Panthers are 1-6-2.
"Even sitting at seventh in conference standings, EIU proved last weekend that they're capable of bringing their A-game," Brizard admitted. "There's definitely something to be said for 1-0-1 against two of the top three teams in the OVC so we need to be prepared for them to carry that momentum to Cookeville on Sunday."
Fans who can't make it out to the Tech Soccer Field for this weekend's matches can follow the Live Stats at the links below:
