By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team will once again find themselves on the precipice of an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament.
In a semifinal bout with No. 8 Little Rock, the top-seeded Golden Eagles scored pair of second-half goals on the way to a 2-0 victory Thursday night in Cookeville to advance to the program's second-consecutive OVC Tournament final and fifth overall appearance in the title clash. The championship match is slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT from Tech Soccer Field, a place the Golden Eagles have now gone unbeaten in nine straight contests.
Katie Toney, who was named the OVC Forward of the Year during Wednesday night's OVC Awards Banquet, came up in the clutch behind a missile of a goal in the 66th minute that unwrapped the scoring, before adding an assist on a Tori Soutuyo goal in the 72nd minute that padded the purple and gold's edge to 2-0.
"What an exciting night for our team and our program," TTU head coach Steve Springthorpe said. "To make another final for the second year in a row is something we take great pride in. I am so happy and proud of our team for the fight they showed tonight against a good Little Rock team that had a great plan this evening and disrupted us in the first half. We found it difficult to find space and create opportunities, but credit to our group for grinding it out for those first 45 minutes. Then in the second half we were able to play better and find a way to get two great goals to ultimately come out on top. It's a fantastic moment for our team and for our program to get a win like this with what was at stake."
Scoreless at intermission, the Trojans (7-5-8) paced the shot battle behind a 6-4 advantage and had the most serious threat of the first stanza thanks to an Amaya Arias drive in the 25th minute. The sophomore midfielder belted one toward the top left corner of the net, but Maggie Conrad was up to the task with a leaping stop that saw the junior keeper pop the attempt over the crossbar to keep the match preserved at nil-nil.
The tide turned in the second half thanks in part to a Golden Eagle 13-7 shot discrepancy that included Toney's goal that put Tech on the board. After possessing the ball near midfield, the McMinnville, Tenn. native patiently made her way up the pitch, before entering the box and letting loose on a drive that was poured perfectly into the upper left corner of the net. Toney's rocket was the sophomore's sixth score of the season.
The Golden Eagles (9-5-4) would go on to add insurance, with freshman Tori Soutuyo doing the honors a mere six minutes later. Neve Renwick started it all with a lengthy drive from Tech's portion of the pitch to a charging Toney near the far sideline. After Toney cradled the Renwick feed, the 5-foot-5 forward made her way into the box, before sliding a pass to Soutuyo who took care of the rest with her second goal of her rookie campaign.
"Katie's goal was just an absolute bomb and I am looking forward to watching it again on film tonight," Springthorpe said. "Then she went on to pick up an assist with a great ball across to Tori. Two well executed goals for us. I told our team after the match that tonight we showed a lot of resiliency. There was some frustration at halftime in regards to how we were playing and the lack of opportunities we created, but we did a really good job of handling that and playing a much better style of soccer in the second half. We were more aggressive in getting forward and played with no fear."
Renwick, the OVC Freshman of the Year, led the match with seven shots. Arias sat atop the Little Rock leaderboard with four total attempts.
Maggie Conrad tallied her sixth shutout of the season behind four stops. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa native has now blanked the opposition in two straight OVC Tournament semifinal matches after collecting a clean sheet in last year's 5-0 victory over Lindenwood. Little Rock's Peyton Urban notched two saves across the way.
The Golden Eagles will await the winner of the other semifinal pitting No. 2 Morehead State against No. 7 Southeast Missouri, with the coveted second spot in the championship match on the line. Sunday's final at Tech Soccer Field is set for 1 p.m. CT. The Golden Eagles will be in search of their second-ever OVC Tournament title and first since 2000.
"We are hoping for another great crowd on Sunday, because tonight they were once again just awesome," Springthorpe claimed. "We are so appreciative of the support and what it does for our team. We again saw a lot of athletes and coaches from other Tennessee Tech teams as well as a ton of support from the community. It was a fantastic atmosphere on our home field in a semifinal setting like this and I can't wait to see what our fans will be like Sunday in the final."
Photo by Jim Dillon
