By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team hit a road block Sunday evening, as the Golden Eagles were upended 7-0 by the University of Tennessee in the middle of a season-long, three-match road swing for the purple and gold.
The Lady Vols (2-2-1) set the tone with a pair of rapid scores within the first four minutes to jump ahead 2-0 and never looked back for the club's second-consecutive win, outscoring its opponents 11-0 in the process. UT, the defending SEC champion and league's preseason No. 1, added two more goals in the first stanza, before closing out the tilt's scoring with three second-half goals to snap Tech's season-best three-match unbeaten streak. The loss marked TTU's first defeat since a loss at Lipscomb on Aug. 21.
Jordan Fusco accounted for two of Tennessee's seven scores behind goals in the 4th and 53rd minute. Taylor Huff popped the lid with a net-finder just before Fusco's goal in the 4th minute, while Abby Burdette and Jaida Thomas tacked on with first-half goals in the 27th and 30th minutes to extend the UT edge to 4-0 at intermission.
Thomas would go on to assist on Fusco's second goal in the 53rd minute, which was promptly followed by a 56th-minute goal by Mackenzie George to pad the Lady Vol lead to 6-0. Macaira Midgley capped off the attack by splitting the pipes in the 75th minute.
The Golden Eagles (1-3-2) managed a .500 shot on-goal percentage with four of the club's eight attempts on-frame. Sarah Block, Yao Giada Zhou, Katie Toney and Jaiden Weston were responsible for the quartet of tries on-point. Gabby Garcia led Tech in overall shots with two taken.
Tennessee proved to be efficient with 13 of its 18 shots on-goal. George led the contest with four shots, all of which were on-frame.
Maggie Conrad's six saves were her second-most in a match this season, while three Lady Vols split the goalkeeping duties en route to the clean sheet. Lindsey Romig was credited with the win thanks to a pair of stops in the first half. Mackenzie Haba registered two halts in just about 17 minutes in-net and Ally Zazzara did not see an attempt come her way in just over 25 minutes between the pipes.
The Golden Eagles will conclude their season-long three-match away swing with a Thursday, Sept. 8 meeting at Middle Tennessee. Kickoff in Murfreesboro is slated for 7 p.m. CT.
Photo by Jim Dillon