By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team returns to Cookeville for its OVC home opener, as the Golden Eagles get set to entertain Southern Indiana Sunday afternoon. Kickoff from Tech Soccer Field is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.
Admission is free of charge. 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 (2-4-3, 1-0-0 OVC) host USI on the heels of a triumphant beginning to Ohio Valley Conference play behind a 3-0 victory Thursday night at Lindenwood in the league opener. Tech's season-high tying three goals were part of a Tech attack that saw the purple and gold register a season-best 24 shots. TTU's defense held up its end of the bargain as well en route to the club's first clean sheet of 2023, holding Lindenwood to only two shots, the lowest by a Golden Eagle opponent in the squad's last 16 affairs, dating back to last year.
Bailey Taylor split the pipes in the 51st minute to unwrap the scoring for the senior forward's third goal of the season and 15th in her Tech tenure to tie for eighth place on the program's all-time career goal list. Meredith Nye was responsible for Tech's other two scores thanks to net-finders in the 58th and 60th minutes for the Jackson, Tenn. native's first career two-goal match. Taylor, Neve Renwick and Katie Toney all provided assists for the purple and gold, with Toney securing two helpers in the nod.
Renwick led the Golden Eagles with five shots to move her season total to an OVC-leading 25 on the year. The freshman out of Sheffield, England is tied with Taylor for the most goals on the club with three apiece.
Maggie Conrad's first shutout of the season, and eighth in her career, featured only one save. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa product still leads the league with 50 stops this year.
Tech heads into Sunday on a three-match unbeaten streak that has seen the Golden Eagles tally eight goals in the trio of contests. Tech also has a 15-match OVC unbeaten streak in the regular season, dating back to the beginning of October 2021.
A look at Southern Indiana
Picked to finish seventh in the OVC's preseason predicted order of finish, the Screaming Eagles (1-5-4, 0-0-1 OVC) are coming off a scoreless draw at Little Rock in the club's conference opener Thursday night. Both teams notched five shots and two shots on-goal in the contest, which saw USI hold the Trojans to only two tries after intermission.
Anna Markland tabbed her second shutout of the season behind two saves over the course of 90 minutes. The red-shirt freshman out of Hoover, Ala. enters Sunday's get-together leading the OVC in goals against average with a 1.12 mark.
Offensively, the Screaming Eagles have managed only six scores in 10 contests. Freshman Pilar Torres is the only USI player with more than one goal thanks to a pair of net-finders. Peyton Murphy, who was chosen as Southern Indiana's Player to Watch in the OVC heading into the year, is coming off a freshman season in which she was named to the OVC All-Newcomer Team behind five goals and 12 points to rank third in league in both departments.
Inside the series
Sunday's meeting will mark the second-ever clash in the series and the first matchup in Cookeville. Tech secured a 4-0 win in last year's battle in Evansville, Ind. on Sept. 22 in TTU's first four-goal output in an OVC match since a 6-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 14, 2005.
Photo by Jim Dillon
