MOREHEAD – You can put a check mark by the first step in the Morehead State women's soccer team's defense of its Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title as the fifth-seeded Eagles upended eighth-seeded UT Martin 1-0 on a rainy Thursday afternoon at Strassweg Field in Evansville, Ind.
Sophomore forward
Hedda Ornberg scored her eighth goal of the year and in her third consecutive game as she put the Eagles ahead two minutes and 48 seconds into the Halloween afternoon contest at Southern Indiana.
"We had a good switch of the ball through the midfield and I found myself in a pocket of space between their center back and outside back. And that scheme was wide open, so I slipped it through to Hedda and she had a beautiful finish," said freshman defender
Ella Fuller, who had the assist on Ornberg's goal.
Fuller collected the ball about 30 yards out from the goal on the left side and played a through-ball to Ornberg, who ran onto it and from 15 yards out laced a hard shot past UTM goalkeeper Mac Titus, who dove to her right to make the play. The ball then blasted past Titus and into the right side of the net.
Ornberg became the first Eagle to score in three consecutive contests since Macy Cobb tallied goals in the final four matches of the 2014 campaign.
"(We) dominated the game, should've scored three or four (goals)," MSU head coach Paul Cox said. "(We) could've been more clinical but survive and advance. Everyone played for the shirt today and it was great to see. We will rest up now and get ready for USI (Southern Indiana)."
Morehead State (8-6-5/4-3-2) did have other opportunities to score, most notably when Ornberg had an open look at the net, but her slow roller was cleared off the line by Ella Rucka, who ran from the edge of the 18-yard box and jumped to clear away an otherwise obvious goal 12 minutes and 41 seconds into the game.
"Offensively, we created so many great chances and this was probably the best game we have played where we were able to find the open player in almost every situation," Fuller said. "I feel like we utilized the space out wide and were really able to open the up and put their goalie under pressure."
The Eagles also staved off some golden chances from the Skyhawks, including a one-handed jumping save by Bailey that pushed an Izzy Patterson shot over the crossbar with 27 minutes remaining and another cleared off the line by freshman forward
Ava Peck on a Makayla Robinson shot just feet from the goal after a corner kick with 14:32 to play.
"I think defensively we had great communication and were doing a good job of covering one another when out of position," Fuller said. "I think we stuck to our principles and settled the game down in the back when things started to get chaotic."
The victory extended a pair of MSU unbeaten streaks to four games. Morehead State is 2-0-2 in its last four contests and 3-0-1 in its past four away contests. The earliest game of the latter category was a 1-0 win at UT Martin.
The Eagles are the defending OVC champs and have now won their last three league tournament contests, all by 1-0 decisions. It also marks the third straight year the Blue and Gold has won its opening conference tournament game.
MSU is now 6-3-3 away from home, which is its most road victories since 2013, when the club went 7-6-1. It also guarantees the Eagles will finish with a winning mark outside of games on their own field. The Blue and Gold's last winning campaign in true road contests came in 2010 (6-4-1).
Morehead State is now 16-12-1 all-time at the OVC Tournament, 4-4 as the No. 5 seed and 4-2-1 with the Skyhawks as the foe. UTM is MSU's most common OVC Tournament opponent.
UT Martin leads the all-time series 16-15-3, but the Eagles are 5-1-1 in the last seven meetings. The victory also gives the Blue and Gold a 3-2 advantage over the Skyhawks in all neutral site competitions.
It was the Blue and Gold's sixth shutout this season as the team inches closer to setting a new school record for the fewest goals allowed in a season at 21, which it achieved in 2022. It currently has surrendered 18.
With her fourth shutout, freshman goalkeeper
Lilly Bailey moves into a tie for 10th place in team history for clean sheets in a year.
UT Martin (4-11-3/3-6-0) fell to 3-6-2 away from home this season and saw its two-game road winning streak come to an end.
The Skyhawks finished the afternoon with a 16-14 edge in shots, but the Eagles had more on frame (9 to 8). UTM also had an eight to six advantage in corner kicks and a three to two differential in offside calls. Morehead State had more fouls (5-3). For the second time this season in an MSU game, neither team was awarded a card.
Ornberg, Patteson and UTM's Brooke Kala all took five shots in the game. Senior forward/midfielder
Erin Fite added three for the Eagles.
Both goalkeepers made seven saves, while each side was also credited with a defensive team save.
The possession was split 50-50, with each team controlling the ball for half of the afternoon. UTM was on the attack 64 percent of its time with the ball, while the Blue and Gold had the ball in the Skyhawk defensive zone for 57 percent of its possessions.
Morehead State will remain in town and square off against the host and No. 4 seed Southern Indiana (5-8-5/4-2-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. USI beat MSU 1-0 in Morehead on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Sunday's victor will travel to Cookeville, Tenn., to face regular-season champion and top-seeded Tennessee Tech in the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. ET. The championship match will be played on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. ET also in Cookeville.
