COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- After opening up OVC play against the current top two teams in the conference, the Tennessee Tech soccer team will look to snap their two-game losing streak as they take on Murray State and UT Martin on the road this weekend.
Tech is coming off of two tough losses from last weekend's road trip into Kentucky, when they squared off against Ohio Valley frontrunner Morehead State for a 2-0 loss, and the no. 2 Eastern Kentucky Colonels in a hard-fought, 1-0 loss.
The Eagles and the Colonels also handed Murray and Martin, this week's opponents, two losses apiece in their first week of OVC play. Murray however, found momentum swinging their way slightly last weekend, as the Racers are coming off of a one-nil win over Jacksonville State and a 110-minute tie with Austin Peay.
Tennessee Tech will face Murray State first on Friday at 4 p.m. With the 11-game series dead even between the Golden Eagles and the Racers (5-5-1) and all-time scoring statistics sitting at 20 goals to 19 for Tech, the Golden Eagles will be looking to avenge the OVC tournament loss that ended their season in 2009, when no. 3 Murray netted four goals on TTU to advance.
Murray faced Tech once prior in 2009 as well in a 1-3 match favoring the Racers in late September.
Capping off play for the weekend, the Golden Eagles will visit Martin on Sunday for a 2 p.m. afternoon game before returning to Cookeville. UT Martin finds themselves in a situation similar to Murray's this weekend, blanking Jacksonville State 2-0 and netting one on Austin Peay for their second consecutive shutout last weekend, evening their record to 2-2.
TTU holds a slight edge over the Skyhawks, leading the lifetime series with a record of 8-5-1, having notched 24 goals to UTM's seven over the course of 11 years. The last meeting between the pair, however, only favored Tech 1-0 in a double overtime victory.
"It's no secret that this weekend will be crucial for our season," said head coach Daniel Brizard. "We've found ourselves in several close matches already, and we need to come together to be on the winning end of those games.
"We're not getting beat by huge numbers," Brizard continued. "We've had five single game losses on the season. It's imperative for us to start working harder for all 90 minutes to win those close games, rather than give up that back-breaking point to our opponents."
Fans who cannot make it to Murray this weekend can follow the Live Stats at the link below. Live Stats will be unavailable for the UT Martin match-up.
