Story by Adam Redfern
Staff writer
aredfern@murraystate.edu
Senior forward Miyah Watford led the Racers into the OVC championship with her early goal against Eastern Illinois University.
The game started with an early booking from the head official. Sophomore midfielder Symone Cooper was given a yellow card in the 5th minute.
Watford opened the scoring sheet when she received a pass from freshman forward Abby Jones, helping Watford power the ball between the legs of junior keeper Sara Teteak in the 14th minute.
Head Coach Matt Lodge was happy to be the first team to grab the lead in Friday’s game. He felt the team was able to use the momentum to carry them through the game despite missing a couple of chances to expand their lead.
“When you score early, you set yourself up really well for the rest of the game,” Lodge said. “I think we still had great chances to make it two or three, but credit to EIU.”
Murray State would control its 1-0 lead for the rest of the game, despite EIU receiving multiple good looks on goal.
Senior keeper Alex Steigerwald recorded four saves on the day, halting all chances for EIU.
“I think that was probably her best game all season,” said Lodge. “Not that she has had bad games, but she was solid today. She came up huge on one-on-ones.”
With the one-goal lead Lodge decided to keep the pressure up all game. He did not want his team to sit on their lead, but try and build on it.
“Lodge has told us plenty of times this season that when we sit back we let teams get on top of us,” Watford said. “We couldn’t allow that. It’s either you win, or you go home, and we did not allow them to get on top of us.”
The Racers will play for the OVC championship against UT Martin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4 at UT Martin.