By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A Sunday afternoon home match will secure the lid on the fourth week of the regular season for the Tennessee Tech soccer team as the Golden Eagles will greet South Alabama for a noon CT kickoff at Tech Soccer Field.
Admission is free of charge. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles (0-4-3) host the Jaguars with some momentum after collecting a point in each of their last two matches behind a pair of draws. In Tech's last home affair against Columbia on Sept. 1, the purple and gold put together a four-goal second half as part of a wild, seesaw second stanza that saw the two clubs combine for eight goals, four ties and four lead changes on the way to a 4-4 deadlock.
Neve Renwick split the pipes twice in the knot, while Katie Toney and Anna Baker each found the back of the net as well.
The Golden Eagles made it a second-straight tie after playing Chattanooga to a 1-1 draw in Tech's yearly meeting with its in-state counterpart. Toney opened the scoring with a penalty-kick goal in the 11th minute for the McMinnville, Tenn. product's second score of the season and second in as many matches. The Mocs would go on to square the score with a net-finder in the 29th minute.
Maggie Conrad helped keep the match knotted with seven saves, which included a dramatic stop off a Chattanooga corner with under 20 seconds remaining in regulation that saw the junior keeper pop the try over the crossbar to lead Tech to a point. Conrad is currently the OVC leader with 49 stops.
Offensively, Renwick sits atop the conference leaderboard with four goals, nine points and 24 total shots. The Sheffield, England native registered a season-best six attempts in Tech's last match at Chattanooga.
A look at South Alabama
A perennial Sun Belt Conference powerhouse, the Jaguars (3-3-0) will come to Cookeville after checking the win column for the third time this season behind a 2-0 nod over Lamar on Thursday. Early scores in each half did the trick for USA thanks to an Irene Campo goal in the 7th minute and a Lamar own goal in the 54th minute.
Two Allison Luckhardt saves helped propel the Olive Branch, Miss. product to her second clean sheet of the season. Luckhardt has yielded 11 goals to go along with 25 denials for a 1.83 goals against average and a 0.694 save percentage.
Offensively, Camp is the club leader with three goals and seven points. April Lantaigne boasts a South Alabama best two assists.
The Jaguars are a perfect 3-0 against non-SEC teams in 2024. The squad's three losses have come at the hands of LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State.
South Alabama is coming off a 16-1-3 record in 2023 that featured an 8-0-2 Sun Belt mark. Over the last five years the program has gone a combined 69-21-16, and since 2013, the Jaguars have punched their ticket to eight NCAA Tournaments.
Inside the series
Sunday's matchup will mark only the third meeting in the all-time set. South Alabama collected a 5-0 nod in 2014 before the two teams played to a 2-2 draw in the 2019 season opener on Aug. 23 as part of the Troy Tournament in Troy, Ala.
Photo by Jim Dillon
