By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team stayed unbeaten in OVC action, as the Golden Eagles played SIUE to a scoreless draw Thursday night at Ralph Korte Stadium for Tech's first nil-nil deadlock of 2023.
The knot pushes the purple and gold to a six-match unbeaten streak overall, dating back to Sept. 10. The Golden Eagles (4-4-4, 3-0-1 OVC) also move their unblemished mark in OVC regular-season matches to 18 in a row, dating back to the beginning of October 2021.
Tech's clean sheet is the club's third in four OVC affairs this season and featured six Maggie Conrad saves, highlighted by five stops after intermission. The junior keeper out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa kept the stalemate in tact with a diving denial on an Aleah Minehart drive in the 60th minute as well as a dramatic sprawling save on a Kaitlyn Nichols try in the 86th minute that helped ensure the Golden Eagles at least a point Thursday evening.
SIUE (4-5-2, 2-1-1 OVC) managed to hold Tech to five total shots in the contest, four of which were on-goal. Neve Renwick, the conference leader in shots, picked up three more attempts, all of which were on-frame. Katie Toney was responsible for TTU's other two shots, with one bid on-target as well.
Sidney Christopher paced the Cougars with three total tries. Taylor Spiller secured the shutout with four saves, stopping a pair of Tech attempts in each half.
Toney, Yao Giada Zhou, Sami Cullum, Macy Carter, Abigail Davis, Selma Askildsen and Meredith Nye each played all 90 minutes in a match that pitted the top two teams in the OVC's predicted order of finish.
The Golden Eagles will wrap up the week with a Sunday home contest against new OVC member, Western Illinois. TTU's first-ever battle with the Leathernecks is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and admission to Tech Soccer Field is free of charge.
Photo by Jim Dillon
