By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A thriller of a title tilt swung Morehead State's direction, as the Tennessee Tech soccer team fell just short of an OVC Tournament championship behind a 1-0 double-overtime loss in Sunday's final in Cookeville.
In front of a Tech Soccer Field record crowd of 1,144, MSU spoiled the party with a goal early in the first overtime that ultimately sent the Eagles to the title and accompanying bid in the NCAA Tournament, the program's first since 2013.
After 90 minutes of regulation could not decide a winner, Morehead (9-5-5) opened the extra session in a big way with the go-ahead goal in the 93rd minute that broke the scoreless deadlock. A cross into the box found its way among heavy traffic in front of the net, before Michelle Hochstadt corralled a defection, secured a clean look, and buried the opportunity that put the Eagles on top.
Tech (9-6-4) was able to take two more shots on-goal over the final 17 minutes of the pair of overtimes, including a dramatic last-ditch effort by Yao Giada Zhou in the final few seconds of the match. With the clock stopped and only six seconds remaining, the senior midfielder lined up for a free kick from a few yards to the left of the box in a bid at a theatrical equalizer. Giada Zhou's blast on-point was caught cleanly by Erin Gibbs to seal the deal on Morehead State's first championship in a decade.
Gibbs tallied five saves in the clean sheet and was opposed by freshman Kendall Curran across the way. The Golden Eagle rookie was forced into her first career start in between the pipes after junior goalkeeper Maggie Conrad suffered an injury during pre-match warmups.
Thrust into a match for all the marbles, Curran collected fives stops in her first starting assignment, which included back-to-back denials in the late stages of regulation to keep the contest preserved at nil-nil. A lengthy Hannah Burke shot in the 83rd minute was first fended off by Curran, but as the rebound trickled out to Colleen Swift who had a good look at the go-ahead goal, Curran dove back and dramatically halted Swift's attempt to keep the tilt scoreless.
Neve Renwick tied Kate Larbes for the most shots in the match thanks to five total tries. Katie Toney took four attempts, including a Tech-best two bids on-goal.
Reniwck, Giada Zhou, Sami Cullum, Macy Carter, Selma Askildsen, Meredith Nye and Melina Hamm were TTU's field players that all went the distance with 110 minutes of action.
Askildsen, Nye and Toney were all recognized as members of the OVC All-Tournament team after the match concluded.
Macy Carter ends her Tech tenure with the third-most career minutes played in program history with 6,975 minutes of action and with the third most matches played with 79 total appearances. Bailey Taylor wraps up her Golden Eagle career tied for the fifth-most goals in program history behind 17 scores. The senior from Powell, Tenn. also ends her Tech stint with the second-most matches played in school history thanks to 80 career contests.
Tech concludes a 2023 campaign that featured the program's third-ever OVC regular-season championship and second-consecutive conference crown. The Golden Eagles tied the program record unbeaten streak behind nine-straight matches without a loss and tied the second-longest undefeated streak in conference regular-season matches in OVC history thanks to 21 straight without a loss dating back to the beginning of October 2021.
Photo by Jim Dillon
