By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – A dramatic goal in the waning moments of regulation kept the Tennessee Tech soccer team undefeated in OVC play, as the Golden Eagles found a way to equalize the score in the tilt's final stages to push across a 2-2 draw at UT Martin Sunday afternoon.
Trailing 2-1 with less than five minutes remaining, Chloe Smith played the role of hero with her team-leading fifth goal of 2022, scoring in the 88th minute to pull the Golden Eagles even in Tech's tangle with the defending regular-season league champion. Down one with the Skyhawk finish line in sight, Smith found a way to propel Tech (4-4-4, 2-0-2 OVC) to its second-consecutive conference knot with an unassisted score that helped keep the Golden Eagles unblemished in conference action.
Smith's dramatics stalled a Skyhawks near nod that saw UT Martin (2-6-3, 0-2-1 OVC) split the pipes twice in the second half to take a narrow lead late. With Tech leading 1-0 into intermission, Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles pulled UTM even with her first goal of year, scoring in the 62nd minute behind a Makayla Robinson feed that saw the Oshawa, Ontario, Canada native find the back of the net to square the score midway through the second stanza. Robinson's connection led the El Cajon, Calif. product to her second assist of the year.
Deadlocked at 1-1, the Skyhawks found a way to take the lead thanks to a Caley Hunt goal in the 82nd minute. The 5-foot-5 senior tallied her second score of 2022 behind an unassisted net-finder that maneuvered Martin into a position to record its first OVC win of the year, but Smith and company had other ideas en route to forcing the deadlock.
UTM outshot the Golden Eagles 12-11, using a second-half surge that the Skyhawks roll across a 9-3 edge in the second period, following a Tech 8-3 advantage in the first 45 minutes. Meredith Nye notched her second goal of the season behind a 28th-minute drive that unwrapped the scoring. The Jackson, Tenn. native capitalized off a Yao Giada Zhou feed that saw Nye split the pipes and gave Giada Zhou her OVC-leading sixth assist in the process.
Sophomore Maggie Conrad allowed her first scores in OVC play behind two goals surrendered, but managed to make three saves on the way to aiding the purple and gold to its second-straight draw. Poppy Bastock notched four stops across the way to help guide the Skyhawks to their first conference point of the year.
Smith, Giada Zhou and Kaite Toney sat atop the Golden Eagle leaderboard two shots apiece, while Izzy Patterson put together a match-leading four attempts that featured a contest-high two tries on-frame.
TTU will now shift its sights to an all-undefeated conference clash, as the Golden Eagles will greet SIUE to Tech Soccer Field in the squad's next affair on Thursday, Oct. 6. The Cougars will come to Cookeville with a 3-0-1 OVC record. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.
Photo by Jim Dillon
