By Dylan Vazzano, Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With still a lot at stake heading into its regular season finale, the Tennessee Tech soccer team will be at Eastern Kentucky Thursday afternoon, locking up with the Colonels at 2 p.m. CT.
A Golden Eagle victory guarantees Tech the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye straight to the semifinals in the OVC Tournament. A TTU win coupled with a Murray State loss at Austin Peay Thursday evening and the Golden Eagles will be crowned co-OVC regular season champions. A tie or a loss, and Tech will be the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, and will host a first round playoff match Sunday.
TTU (10-5-3, 6-1-2) enters the regular season conclusion red hot having won four-straight to run its unbeaten streak to five in a row. The Golden Eagles smacked an exclamation point on the end of its regular season home slate with a pair of shutout victories over the weekend, blanking SIU Edwardsville Friday and Eastern Illinois Sunday to give Tech nine shutouts this season, tied with EKU for the most in the OVC as well as tied for the most in a single season in program history (2001).
The two nods also pushed TTU's win total to 10, the first time the Golden Eagles have eclipsed double-digit victories in a season since 2002, while Tech's six conference wins match last year's program record.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kari Naerdemann collected nine saves over the weekend en route to her eighth and ninth shutouts of the season, giving the Herne Germany native 16 in her two-year career, the most in school history. Naerdemann helps anchor a TTU defense that still sits atop the OVC in goals allowed (12) and goals against average (0.64).
The Golden Eagles were awarded for the weekend's defensive efforts as senior Abi Gearing was named the the adidas® OVC Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday afternoon. The distinction marks the fifth Player of the Week honor this season for the Golden Eagles, and the third defensive one.
Gearing was on the field for all 180 minutes in the pair of victories and also found the back of the net Sunday afternoon on Senior Day, scoring in the 74th minute on a header in the box that pushed Tech's advantage to 2-0, essentially putting the match on ice. The Libertyville, Ill. native's goal was her team-leading sixth of the season, a mark that is good enough for seventh in the conference.
Gearing's net-finder was made possible thanks to another Karigan Owens assist, the junior's OVC-leading eighth of the year after the La Grange, Ky. native soared a free kick from deep that connected with Gearing. Owens has three more assists than the next closest player in the conference.
Eastern Kentucky (12-4-0, 7-2-0) welcomes Tech to EKU Soccer Field, a place where the Colonels have gone 7-1-0 this season. Following back-to-back losses to Austin Peay and Murray State in early October, EKU has rattled off four-straight wins, including consecutive shutout nods over EIU and SIUE over the weekend.
The Colonels head into the regular season finale as the conference's top scoring squad with 29 goals in 16 matches. EKU has six players with at least three goals, paced by senior Cassie Smith and junior Jordan Foster's seven apiece.
Junior goalkeeper Anna Hall is knotted with Kari Naerdemann for the most shutouts in the league with nine, while Hall sits in third in the OVC in save percentage (.831) and goals against average (0.87). Naerdemann leads in both departments.
Eastern Kentucky leads the all-time series with Tech, 7-4-0, but the Golden Eagles did upend the Colonels in last year's meeting, a 3-0 win in Cookeville on Oct. 2.
Photo by Jim Dillon
