By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – An opportunity to take home the program's second-consecutive Ohio Valley Conference crown will come down to the final match of the regular season for the Tennessee Tech soccer team, as the Golden Eagles will host Little Rock Sunday afternoon with a lot on the line for the purple and gold.
Kickoff at Tech Soccer Field is slated for 1 p.m. CT and 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 Tech victory over the Trojans or a Morehead State loss or draw at SIUE will give the Golden Eagles to their third conference regular-season championship as well as the No. 1 seed and a double-bye to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament.
Sunday's contest will also be TTU's annual Senior Day, with a special pre-match ceremony to honor the careers of Selma Askildsen, Emily Carlevato, Macy Carter, Taylor Clark, Sami Cullum, Katelyn Farmer, Gabby Garcia, Yao Giada Zhou and Bailey Taylor on the books.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles had a chance to clinch the league's regular-season title Thursday afternoon at Morehead State, but were upended 2-1 to drop their first OVC clash of the season. The last team to suffer a conference defeat, Tech's loss snapped an overall nine-match unbeaten streak, which tied the 2017 club for the longest unblemished stretch in school history. The Golden Eagles (7-5-4, 6-1-1 OVC) also saw their 21-match unbeaten streak in conference regular-season contests snapped, which was tied with Samford (2005-07) for the second-longest in league history.
Down 2-0, Tech did manage to cut the deficit in half on a Katie Toney goal for the sophomore's fifth score of the season. The McMinnville, Tenn. native is tied with Neve Renwick and Bailey Taylor for the second-most goals in the OVC. Yao Giada Zhou leads the conference with six goals to go along with a league-high six assists and conference-best 18 points for the senior midfielder out of San Michele al Tagliamento, Italy.
Renwick is still sitting atop the OVC leaderboard in total shots behind 61 attempts. The Golden Eagle rookie from Sheffield, England took 10 tries in Tech's last home match as part of a 3-2 victory over UT Martin on Oct. 12 for the most bids by any player in the league in a single contest this season. Toney is currently second in the OVC with 40 shots.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles have tabbed clean sheets in five of eight conference tilts. Overall, junior goalkeeper Maggie Conrad leads the league in save percentage with a .821 mark and total saves thanks to 78 stops.
A look at Little Rock
In their second season as members of the OVC, the Trojans (5-3-8, 2-2-4) will come to Cookeville with some momentum in their back pocket behind a four-match unbeaten streak that has featured back-to-back victories over the last two matches. Following an 0-2-4 start to its OVC slate, Little Rock rattled off a 4-2 victory at Eastern Illinois on Oct. 15 and seized a thrilling 1-0 win over Western Illinois in the club's final home match on Thursday.
Scoreless late in regulation, the Trojans finally split the pipes on a penalty-kick goal by Amaya Arias in the 82nd minute to slide past the Leathernecks in the crucial conference contest. Arias' score put in her in a tie with Karina De Paoli for the team lead thanks to four scores, which is tied for fifth most in the OVC. Arias is also tied for the third-most shots in the league with 34 attempts. Serenity Thake leads the team behind three assists.
Little Rock has evenly split its goalkeeper responsibilities, with Peyton Urban appearing in 765 minutes in between the pipes and Marie Cimatti showing up for 675 minutes in net. Each keeper played one half in Thursday's shutout win over Western Illinois and each keeper collected one save.
Inside the series
Sunday's showdown will mark the fifth matchup in the all-time series, with Little Rock holding a 3-0-1 edge in the set. The two teams played to a 2-2 draw in last year's regular-season finale in Little Rock on Oct. 23. Karina De Paoli opened the scoring with a goal in the 29th minute, before Reagan Smiley squared up the affair with a 63rd-minute score and Katie Toney gave the Golden Eagles the lead in the 65th minute. Bronte Peel would go on to knot the tilt up thanks to a goal in the 86th minute.
The last meeting in Cookeville was a Little Rock 2-1 victory in the season opener of the 2015 season on Aug. 21 in what was the first-ever night match in Tech Soccer Field history.
Photo by Jim Dillon
