By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team had its hands full at Belmont University Friday evening, having to hold off 24 Bruin shots in a 2-0 defeat to close out the 2013 season.
The Golden Eagles (3-15-1, 1-8-1) managed just two shots in their own right, both of them strikes by Jessica Wilson in the senior from Cookeville's final match of her four-year career.
Belmont (7-8-2, 5-4-1) found the back of the net in each half to push its win streak to three in a row, led by scores from juniors Taylor Smith and Meredith Martin.
Smith's goal broke a scoreless tie in the 31st minute, splitting the pipes after receiving a cross from sophomore Emily Epley for Smith's first score of the year. Martin's net-finder came just over nine minutes into the second stanza, as the Franklin, Tenn. native recorded her third goal of the season on a header set up by sophomore Cassie Blase's pass inside the box.
TTU sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Brown did her part to keep the Golden Eagles right in the thick of things, tying her season-high with 13 saves, the League City, Texas native's fifth double-digit stop effort of the year.
Brown closes out a stellar sophomore campaign with an OVC-leading 138 saves, 15 more than last year's total, and the second most in Tech history.
On the opposite side of things, Belmont's Nicole Berner notched two saves in picking up the shutout win.
With the conclusion of another soccer season, the Golden Eagles say goodbye to their five seniors Shannon Rountree, Jessica Wilson, Taylor Hicks, Leigh Heffner, and Ellie Iaciofano.