By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team is set to conclude the third week of the spring campaign, as the Golden Eagles trek to Southeast Missouri for a Friday evening showdown with the Redhawks. First kick from Houck Field in Cape Girardeau is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles (3-1-0) will look to bounce back after suffering their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss to Belmont Tuesday night at Tech Soccer Field. The defending OVC Tournament champion, Bruins, became the first team to score off TTU in four matches this spring behind an 11th-minute goal for the tilt's only score. The Golden Eagles were the last team in the conference to surrender a goal after starting the season with 284 minutes of blanking the opposition.
Tech's 3-0-0 start to the year marked the club's first three-match winning streak to begin a season since 2004, and the last time the club won its first three OVC matches was 2015.
Friday's battle with SEMO will feature a matchup between the league's top defenses in terms of goals allowed, goals against average and shutouts. Both squads have yielded only one goal in four contests this year, with three clean sheets and a 0.25 goals against average under their belts as well. Tech senior keeper Isabelle Austin, the reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week, leads the conference in goals against average and save percentage with a .944 mark behind 17 stops and one goal allowed.
Offensively, Chloe Smith leads Tech with 12 shots and seven shots on-goal. The 5-foot-8 forward from Cincinnati, Ohio is one of three Golden Eagles to split the pipes this year thanks to an 88th-minute game-winner at Morehead State that broke a scoreless deadlock on Mar. 9. Freshmen Meredith Nye and Gabby Garcia have accounted for TTU's other two scores this year, with Nye collecting a game-winner in the 32nd minute in the season opener at Austin Peay on Mar. 2, and Garcia finding the back of the net in overtime of Tech's home-opening nod over Eastern Illinois on Mar. 12.
A look at SEMO
The defending regular-season champion, SEMO, heads into Friday's affair as one of three teams in the conference with undefeated records this spring. The Redhawks (4-0-0) join SIUE with four wins in 2021, while Murray sits atop the league with a 5-0-0 mark.
After kicking off the season with a 3-1 home win over Jacksonville State on Mar. 5, SEMO has rattled off three consecutive 1-0 victories with nods at Belmont (Mar. 9), vs. Austin Peay (Mar. 12) and at EIU (Mar. 16). Tuesday's triumph at Eastern Illinois featured an Emma Brune goal in the 79th minute to break the scoreless knot, as Brune became the fourth different Redhawk to find the back of the net this year.
Lauren Welker leads the team with three scores, highlighted by two game-winning goals, collected in the victories at Belmont and vs. Austin Peay. The Jackson, Mo. product has made the most of her opportunities with three scores on just four shots this year. Hannah Compernolle, Morgan McCourt, Abby Tremain and Nadiia Ivanchenko are in a four-way deadlock for the most shots on the team with six apiece.
Junior Bailey Redden has played each and every minute between the pipes this season and has let up just one goal while making eight saves for a .889 save percentage.
The Redhawks wrapped up 2019 with an 11-5-1 overall record and went 8-1-1 in conference play to finish the regular season in first place. The team was selected to finish second in the OVC's predicted order of finish, receiving the most first-place votes out of any team in the league with seven.
Inside the series
SEMO leads the all-time series, 15-6-3, which includes a 3-2 victory in the 2019 regular-season finale in Cape Girardeau on Oct. 27. The two teams played to a scoreless draw in 2018 and the last Golden Eagle win in the set was a 1-0 victory on Oct. 14, 2016 in Cookeville.
Photo by Jim Dillon