Story by Nick Kendall & Keaton Faughn
Staff Writer & Contributing Writer
nkendall1@murraystate.edu & kfaughn1@murraystate.edu
Murray State soccer claimed the No. 2 seed in the OVC Tournament with a weekend sweep to end the regular season.
Murray State vs. Belmont
Murray State soccer headed to Nashville, Tennessee to secure a 3-0 victory over the Belmont University Bruins in its last road game of the regular season.
The Racers scored first with an 18th-minute goal from senior forward Miyah Watford.
Both teams got a few more chances to score, but the Racers kept the 1-0 edge heading into halftime.
It didn’t take long for Murray State to score again. Sophomore forward Abby Jones found the goal on a swift free kick in the 56th minute.
Watford found the back of the net once more in the 88th minute to put her name in the record books.
Watford recorded her 14th goal of the season, breaking the previous Murray State single-season record of 13 by former Racer forward Harriet Withers.
Murray State heads into the final game of the regular season 10-7 overall and 7-2 in the OVC.
Now the team is looking for a regular season co-championship with Southeast Missouri State, which is currently one point ahead of the Racers.
Head Coach Matt Lodge knows there’s a lot on the line but he’s going to keep his team level-headed.
“I think the biggest thing for me in the message I’m going to give the team is, ’go into conference tournament time with the momentum of coming off hopefully a three-game win streak after Sunday,’” Lodge said. “Then we take care of business come tournament time.”
Murray State vs. Eastern Illinois
Murray State women’s soccer hosted Eastern Illinois University on Sunday for senior day, defeating them by a score of 1-0 to conclude their regular season schedule.
Outshooting Easter Illinois 26-6, Sophomore forward Abby Jones scored the lone goal for the Racers which kept them to a perfect 5-0 record this year at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky.
Extending her scoring streak to three straight games, Jones put the Racers on the board in the 28th minute of play, splitting a pair of defenders before placing the ball in the lower corner of the net.
With the lone goal from Jones, the Racers were able to edge out the Panthers and claim their final victory of the regular season.
“We stayed disciplined in possession,” Head Coach Matt Lodge said. “EIU moved the ball around really well and, if we are going to go in and chase, we were going to get picked off, so just really disciplined defensive performance today.”
Holding an advantage in the first half, the Racers put up 15 first-half shots to the Panther’s two.
The Racers came out hot in the second half and pressed the attack, generating four scoring chances in just 15 minutes of second-half play.
While they didn’t convert on these opportunities, Lodge felt that this was a good outing to wrap up the season.
“I though we created a bunch of chanced but just didn’t quite finish,” Lodge said. “At the back we looked solid, and the midfield worked really hard too so it was just a really good performance for us on both sides of the ball.”
Finishing their regular season in second place with a record of 11-7 (8-2 in OVC play), the Racers now have their sights set on the OVC Tournament. Murray State has earned the No. 2 seed and they will begin postseason play on Friday, Nov. 8 a 3:00 p.m. in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.