MOREHEAD, Ky.— Following a nail-biting, overtime win on Sunday against Belmont, Morehead State Soccer heads 130 miles west on I-64 to take on in-state opponent Louisville in their final non-conference match of the season on Thursday night.
"Louisville is capable of exploding at any time," said Head Coach
Warren Lipka. "We have to make sure we are organized and disciplined defensively if we want to have a chance at this game."
Defensively MSU has shown improvement and on Sunday that improvement proved evident as they put together their first shutout of the year, holding Belmont scoreless for 99 minutes. Senior defender and recent addition to the starting line-up,
Teig Palmateer, has been a solid contributor on the backline. In their two matches last week against Jacksonville State and Belmont, she was the only defender to go the distance, playing a total of 189 minutes. According to Lipka, Palmateer adds experience and other characteristics to the field.
"She gives us the opportunity to break pressure with long balls and she's good in the air," he said. "When her and (senior, defender)
Kelsey Patera, or her and (senior, defender) Kim Golden are next to each other, they give us the experience we need in the back."
After Thursday night's match, the Eagles will have two days to refocus their sights on the OVC with a home match at Jayne Stadium against another in-state opponent in Eastern Kentucky, at 1pm.
"We have to be ready for a battle on Sunday, it's conference play and anything can happen" said Lipka. "They have a very good attack, pace, and they're determined. We'll have to reemphasize defending to get the results we're looking for."
Both the
Louisville and EKU matches will be streamed live and can be found at
MSUEagles.com. Live stats will also be available for both matches, and as always, you can follow
@MSUEaglesLive for live in-game updates.
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