By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The wait is finally over! For the first time in over a month, the Tennessee Tech soccer team is back in Cookeville as the Golden Eagles (2-11-0, 0-4-0) play host to Eastern Illinois on Friday in the weekend's only match. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m. CT.
Tech enters the tilt having played its last eight matches on the road, a rigorous stretch that began with a 2-1 win way back on Sep. 12 at Chattanooga. The Golden Eagles last hit the pitch at Tech Soccer Field on Sep. 7 in a matchup with Western Carolina, however Friday's match with EIU (2-10-1, 1-3-0) marks the beginning of a spurt that will see the Golden Eagles at home in five of the next six matches to close out the regular season.
"We are definitely happy to be home, we've spent a lot of time on the road and are ready to be home for awhile," first-year Tech head coach Steve Springthorpe said on his club's return to Cookeville. "It's been a long four weeks and I know our players are looking forward to being here on Friday. There's an excitement from them and then certainly for us as a coaching staff to have a home-field advantage will hopefully help us."
Tech is coming off a pair of losses in its weekend matches to open up the month of October, falling 2-1 to Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 3, before the defending conference tournament champions and preseason No. 1 in the conference, Morehead State, got the better of TTU 3-0 on Oct. 5. The Golden Eagles opened up the scoring in its battle with EKU behind a Katie Phillips' 25th minute goal, the second of the season for the 5-foot-9 senior to put her in a three-way tie for the team-lead with junior Taylor Blazei and sophomore Abi Gearing.
Ultimately, the Colonels roped home a pair of scores in the second half to upend Tech in Friday's hard-fought battle. On Sunday, Morehead State padded its 1-0 intermission lead with two-second stanza goals, the first of which came right after TTU senior Amanda Koch nearly provided the equalizer with a shot that hit the post in the 63rd minute.
"Every game we try to do some things better and I think we were able to do that this weekend," Springthorpe noted on his team's play in the last two matches. "I thought we played well enough to beat EKU, but we still had some of the same things that cause some issues reoccur. Morehead is a good team and I expect them to be toward the top of the conference when the season ends. I thought we played well against them and were able to accomplish some of our goals of trying to frustrate them in different areas. I was encouraged with the effort we played with and we did accomplish some of the things we wanted to."
Eastern Illinois treks to Cookeville having just snapped a three-match slide on Sunday thanks to a 3-1 home victory over Austin Peay. With the score squared away at 1-1 in the second half, Panther senior Meagan Radloff scored twice in the final 45 minutes to push her team to its first OVC win of the season. In total, Radloff clipped the back of the net three times over the weekend after accomplishing the feat once in a 3-1 loss to Belmont, leading to the West Chicago, Ill. native taking home the conference's Defensive Player of the Week honor on Tuesday.
"EIU comes in with a similar record, so you have two teams really fighting for a win," Springthorpe said, eyeing Tech's lone match of the weekend. "I think it will be a tough battle, but we will be ready for the challenge and ready to play the best that we can Friday afternoon."
The Panthers have controlled the all-time series up to this point, leading 16-3-4 over the Golden Eagles, including claiming a 4-2 win in last year's matchup in Charleston, Ill. The aforementioned Meagan Radloff scored twice in the affair, while both Katie Phillips and Taylor Blazei split the pipes as well.
Admission to all Golden Eagle home regular season games is free.
