By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team gets set for the final two weeks of the regular season, as the Golden Eagles will welcome UT Martin to town for a Thursday evening battle with the Skyhawks in the first of the last four contests of the year. The latest edition of the in-state rivalry is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. CT.
Admission to Tech Soccer Field 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
Armed with OVC's best conference record, the Golden Eagles (5-4-4, 4-0-1 OVC) get set to tangle with UT Martin as the league's last remaining undefeated squad. Overall, TTU heads into Thursday evening on a seven-match unbeaten streak that has seen the purple and gold outscore its opponents 19-4 over the stretch.
The Golden Eagles have yielded only one goal in their five conference clashes, collecting four clean sheets in the process. Maggie Conrad took home her second OVC Goalkeeper of the Week award of the season on Tuesday after blanking both SIUE and Western Illinois in Tech's pair of weekly affairs. Conrad combined for nine stops to lead all conference goalkeepers, which included four denials over the final six minutes in TTU's scoreless knot in Edwardsville, Ill. on Oct. 5.
Overall, Conrad sits atop the league leaderboard in save percentage at .835 and total saves with 66 halts. The Golden Eagle defense is second in the OVC in goals against average thanks to a 1.15 mark.
Offensively, Tech still paces the conference in goals scored with 23, six more than the next closest school in the league. Yao Giada Zhou, Neve Renwick, Bailey Taylor and Katie Toney are part of a seven-way tie for the most goals scored in the OVC with four, while Toney and Giada Zhou are deadlocked for first in the league in assists with five and points with 13. Renwick is the conference leader in total shots with 46, 14 more than anyone else in the OVC.
Selma Askildsen and Macy Carter have still not left the pitch at any point this season, playing all 1,170 possible minutes on the year.
A look at UT Martin
The Skyhawks (5-6-3, 2-1-2 OVC) are on a heater of their own that has featured a four-match unbeaten streak following a conference-opening defeat at Morehead State on Sept. 21. The quartet of contests has seen UTM pick up consecutive 1-1 draws against Little Rock on Sept. 24 and Western Illinois on Oct. 1, before collecting back-to-back shutout victories at Lindenwood on Oct. 5 and against Eastern Illinois on Oct. 8.
The consecutive clean sheets led Catey Hunt to this week's Ohio Valley Conference Defender of the Week, the second such honor for the McDonough, Ga. native this year. Not only did Hunt help anchor a Skyhawk defense that did not surrender a goal in the pair of contests, but the 5-foot-5 graduate student also scored the game-winning goal in the 86th minute of the club's narrow nod over EIU on Sunday.
The game-winning goal was Hunt's league-leading third of the year, and the score also matched her with Makayla Robinson for the most overall goals with three and points with seven on the team.
Poppy Bastock has spent the majority of time in between the pipes for UT Martin, playing in all but 120 minutes on the year. The sophomore out of Leicester, England has let up 20 scores and has made 59 saves for a 1.58 goals against average and a .747 save percentage.
Inside the series
Thursday evening's match will mark the 29th meeting in the all-time set, with the Skyhawks leading the series 15-11-2. Last year's affair ended in a 2-2 draw on Oct. 2 in Martin. The two teams have not met in Cookeville since a Skyhawk 1-0 overtime victory on Mar. 26, 2021.
Photo by Jim Dillon
