By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The start of another Tennessee Tech soccer season, and for all intents and purposes, the start of another year of Golden Eagle athletics has arrived. TTU's soccer squad is set to kick off its 2023 campaign and the Tech department's first official contest of the fall with a Thursday evening trip to WKU for a battle with the Lady Toppers.
Kickoff from the WKU Soccer Complex in Bowling Green, Ky. is slated for a 7 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast live via ESPN+. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
An enthusiastic outlook is the name of the game for the beginning of the 2023 season following Tech's selection to win in the Ohio Valley Conference, as voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information personnel in the OVC's predicted order of finish. The purple and gold march into the year fresh off a historic 2022 campaign that saw the program capture its second-ever OVC regular-season title and first since 1998.
Tech's ascent to the top featured the league's first undefeated conference campaign since UT Martin in 2018, which led the Golden Eagles to earning OVC Tournament semifinal and championship match hosting responsibilities for the first time in school history. TTU opened its postseason run with a 5-0 win over Lindenwood in the conference tournament semifinals that put the purple and gold in the OVC Tournament championship match for the first time since 2009.
This year's club, led by the reigning OVC Coach of the Year Steve Springthorpe, presents a whole host of returning talent, including five Golden Eagles that took home all-conference accolades a season ago. Yao Giada Zhou, who was recently selected as Tech's Player to Watch coming into the year, is fresh off a 2022 fall that saw the San Michele al Tagliamento, Italy native become the first Golden Eagle to ever claim the OVC Midfielder of the Year award. The senior midfielder also joins Emily Carlevato as returners to be named to the All-OVC first team last year, while Katie Toney and Meredith Nye enter 2023 after securing All-OVC second-team distinction last season. Tech's starting goalkeeper Maggie Conrad comes into the fall fresh off of a sturdy 2022 that netted the Cedar Rapids, Iowa product a spot on the OVC All-Newcomer team.
Conrad helped anchor a Golden Eagle defensive unit that pitched six shutouts in eight league matches to go along with a conference-best 0.50 goals against during OVC play. Along with Conrad, Tech returns back-line starters Emily Carlevato, Macy Carter and Selma Askildsen.
Offensively, the purple and gold enjoyed one of its best seasons in program history behind an OVC-high 29 goals in 18 matches. TTU also paced the conference with 25 assists, 219 shots and 83 points, 24 more than the next closest club.
Individually, Giada Zhou finished second in the OVC in 2022 with six assists, while the 5-foot-3 midfielder also ended the year tied for seventh in the conference with 34 shots and knotted for ninth in the league with 10 points. The Golden Eagles will also welcome back Bailey Taylor, who ended with four goals last season to tie for fifth in the conference to go along with four assists to tie for fourth in the league and 12 points to knot for third in the OVC.
A look at WKU
Picked preseason No. 4 in the nine-team Conference USA, the Lady Toppers are coming off a 7-9-3 overall account in 2022, which included a 4-5-1 league ledger. WKU had a promising beginning to conference play behind a 3-2-1 record over the first five matches, but dropped three of the final four regular-season affairs and were ultimately ousted in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament thanks to a 5-1 loss to North Texas.
The Lady Toppers landed one player on the CUSA Preseason Team behind Ambere Barnett's selection. The graduate midfielder out of Rockport, Ind. was named an All-American, the Conference USA Player of the Year and Midfielder of the Year in the spring of 2021 after scoring six goals and adding two assists in only nine matches, but was forced to sit out the last two seasons due to injury. WKU also returns its leading goal scorer from a season ago in Kayla Meyer, who split the pipes four times and also paced the squad with nine points.
The Lady Toppers will head into the year with a new starting goalkeeper after the departure of fifth-year senior Alex Bach, who played in 18 of 19 matches in 2022 and tallied a 0.89 goals against average.
Inside the series
Last season's 1-1 draw in Cookeville on Aug. 28 marked the first-ever meeting in the all-time series. Trailing 1-0 late in regulation, Katie Toney provided the equalizer with her first career goal in the 81st minute that ultimately led Tech to the tie.
Photo by Jim Dillon
