Gage Johnson
Sports Editor
gjohnson17@murraystate.edu
After wrapping up non-conference play, Murray State women’s soccer won its OVC opener against SIUE with a 5-0 victory in front of the Family Weekend crowd.
The Racers are coming off of their toughest non-conference portion of a schedule in recent memory. Head Coach Matt Lodge and company took on Power-5 schools like Ole Miss, the University of Missouri, Indiana University and several other tough schools.
Lodge said despite the outcomes he knew it wouldn’t be easy going in, but felt like it would pay off in the end.
“A lot of people at the start of the season were like ‘are you sure you want to play those hard games?’” Lodge said. “I said yeah because I believe we can win those games, but also because that’s what we’re preparing for in [the] conference. Anything we can do to prepare for conference we want to.”
This definitely seemed to be the case with the offensive prowess the Racers put on display Sunday.
Junior forward Rebecca Kubin got the ball rolling, and sophomore forward Abby Jones found Kubin who scored on the counterattack, giving the Racers a 1-0 lead. From there on, Murray State continued to push the envelope offensively.
In the 36th minute, Jones sent a corner kick into the box, finding senior defender Karsyn Hasch for a header and first goal at Murray State to give the Racers a 2-0 lead.
Kubin and senior forward Emma Heise found the back of the net within seven minutes of each other, both coming off of assists from Jones.
This gave Jones a total of four assists on the day, breaking the Murray State women’s soccer single-game record for assists.
“She’s just such a smart player,” Lodge said. “She’s actually more athletic than a lot of people think. Because she’s next to Kubin and Miyah she maybe doesn’t stand out on that side of things, but she’s so clever and so clean with her touch.”
Jones then put the icing on the cake with a goal of her own to give the Racers a 5-0 lead. This was all the Racers needed to claim their first conference win of the season.
Freshman goalkeeper Jasmine Rowell also got her first start at goal for the Racers and had four saves to help Murray State on the way to victory.
“We kind of tell the keepers every week whoever trains the best this week is going to start in goal,” Lodge said. “Jamie and Sarah both trained really well too, but for what we were looking for this week Jasmine stood out and it was a game-day decision that I think paid off.”
The Racers will continue their three-game homestand with their matchup against UT-Martin at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, at Cutchin Field.