MOREHEAD – The Morehead State women's soccer team will travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., to meet a familiar foe when it opens its fifth NCAA Tournament game with second-seeded and third-ranked Wake Forest on Friday at 6 p.m., at Spry Stadium. It will be the third time the two teams have faced each other in MSU's five trips to the NCAAs.
MSU earned the Ohio Valley Conference's automatic berth for the second straight year, despite falling in Sunday's league championship game to Lindenwood 3-2. However, because the Lions remain ineligible for an NCAA bid as a transitioning member of Division I, the Eagles are the OVC's representative. Morehead State (9-7-6) gets the nod because it advanced farthest among the eligible schools in the conference tournament. It is the first time MSU qualified for the NCAA field despite not winning the OVC Championship.
Morehead State previously competed in the event in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2023. This will be the third time MSU's opening-round opponent will be Wake Forest. The teams also faced each other in 2008 and 2013. In both cases, the Demon Deacons won the match 2-0 at home. Those were the only two meetings between the clubs.
"Wake Forest are a top-quality side, number three in the nation for a reason. I think they can feel hard done by for not being a No. 1 seed. Their results speak for themselves," Eagle head coach
Paul Cox said. "But we have to believe (in our abilities). We know we are going to have to defend a lot and we are prepared to do that. This is going to be a wonderful experience for our players, but we aren't going there to roll over."
Friday will be Morehead State's 23rd game of the season, the most it has ever played in one year. It previously suited up for 22 contests four times every year between 2011 and 2015 except for 2012.
The Eagles have posted their third consecutive .500 season and have the second most wins since the 2014 club captured 11. They also won nine games in 2015 and 2023. The last time it won at least 10 matches was in 2014. The school record is 13 victories, which it accomplished in 2010.
After running through the first three OVC Tournament contests with a 2-0-1 record (including a 1-0 win over eighth-seeded UT Martin at a neutral site, 2-1 victory over fourth-seeded host Southern Indiana and a 0-0 tie against top-seeded and host Tennessee Tech, which ended with MSU advancing with a 3-0 edge in penalty kicks), the fifth-seeded Blue and Gold saw both its six-game overall unbeaten streak and its six-game road unbeaten streak come to an end with a defeat to third-seeded Lindenwood in Sunday's conference finals. The former unbeaten string was the Eagles' best since Oct. 8-Nov. 5, 2023. The latter mark tied a school record originally set from Sept. 12-Oct. 31, 2010.
MSU also has tied a school record in single-season victories away from home. Its 7-4-4 record is equal to its 2013 mark of 7-6-1. The only other time in the 27-year history of the program that the club sported a winning record on the road was in 2010, when it finished 6-5-1.
The Eagles have really stood out this season on defense. The team has allowed 22 goals this year. Minus the 2020 Covid season (when it surrendered 16 goals), the 22 scores tie the second fewest allowed in a season. It surrendered 21 goals in 2022 and 22 goals in 2021.
Last year, second-seeded MSU defeated seventh-seeded Southeast Missouri 1-0 in the semifinals and then top-seeded and host Tennessee Tech 1-0 in double overtime in the championship to earn its bid to the NCAA Tournament, where it fell to top-ranked and top-seeded Florida State 5-0 in Tallahassee, Fla. The Seminoles went on to win the national championship.
This season, the Eagles are averaging 1.14 goals per game, 12.30 shots per game, 5.55 shots on goal per game, 4.32 corner kicks per game, 8.86 fouls per game, 2.32 offside flags per game, 4.46 saves per game and 1.18 cards per game. MSU's opponents average 1.00 gpg, 13.8 shots per game, 5.46 shots on goal per game, 4.77 ckpg, 8.14 fpg, 2.91 offside flags per game, 4.41 saves per game and 0.82 cpg.
Sophomore forward
Hedda Ornberg added another goal to her tally against Lindenwood and now leads the club with 10, while also adding two assists, 22 points and 50 shots. She sits in a tie for sixth in single-season goals at MSU.
Freshmen forwards
Ava Peck and
Carlie Thurmond are second on the squad with three goals, two assists and eight points apiece. Peck has taken 21 shots, while Thurmond has recorded 18. Junior midfielder
Kennedy Baquero adds three goals, one assist, seven points and 40 shots; while senior midfielder/forward
Erin Fite has moved into a tie for eighth in career assists with 10, after contributing five for five points this year. She also has taken 31 shots. Her five assists also tie her for 10th on the MSU single-season list.
Like Ornberg and Fite, freshman goalkeeper
Lilly Bailey continues to climb the Morehead State records. She has a 6-5-5 record, a 1.00 goals against average, 72 saves, an .818 save percentage and has been part of five shutouts. Those totals place her 11th in single-season wins, third in single-season gaa and tied for sixth in single-season shutouts.
Ornberg (First Team), graduate assistant defender
Anna Lohrer (Second Team), sophomore defender
Hannah Burke (Second Team), Baquero (All-Newcomer Team) and Peck (All-Newcomer Team) were each named All-OVC this fall.
Wake Forest (12-3-3) enters the tournament having been ranked as high as No. 2 in the United Soccer Coaches poll this season. Like MSU, the Demon Deacons did not win their league. They tied the defending national champion and the Eagles' 2023 NCAA opponent Florida State 1-1 in the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament last Thursday in Cary, N.C. FSU advanced on penalty kicks 3-1. WFU had earned an outright berth to the ACC Tournament semifinal.
Prior to the Florida State contest, the Demon Deacons went 7-1-1, including collecting road wins over Pittsburgh (2-0), SMU (2-1), Syracuse (3-0) and No. 2 Virginia (3-0). It also beat No. 6 Florida State (4-1) and No. 1 Stanford (1-0), and tied California (2-2) at home.
The Demon Deacons boast a 6-1-1 record on their own field this fall. They won their last game there with a 3-0 decision against North Carolina State on Halloween. However, the club fell to top-ranked Duke 2-0 four days earlier.
Wake Forest will be making its 23rd appearance in the NCAA field. Its last bid came in 2022, when it dropped a 2-0 decision at South Carolina. The Demon Deacons' most recent NCAA Tournament victory was in 2021, when they claimed a 3-0 win over Harvard in the first round at Spry Stadium. Overall, it has a 22-21-1 record, including a 14-2-1 mark at home. It has won its first-round match 15 times.
Wake averages 1.94 gpg, 17.10 shots per game, 7.06 shots on goal per game, 6.22 ckpg, 10.78 fpg, 1.56 offside flags per game, 2.22 saves per game and 1.44 cpg. Its' opponents average 0.84 gpg, 10.3 shots per game, 4.68 shots on goal per game, 4.0 ckpg, 9.95 fpg, 4.17 offside flags per game, 5.11 saves per game and 0.97 cpg.
The Demon Deacons will be arguably the most potent offensive side the Eagles have faced this season. Fifteen players have at least one point, led by junior forward Caiya Hanks (8 goals, 7 assists, 23 points, 56 shots). Senior midfielder Emily Colton follows with six goals, five assists, 17 points and 60 shots. Senior forward Emily Murphy contributes four goals, seven assists, 15 points and 46 shots. Senior midfielder Nikayla Small and sophomore forward Sierra Sythe both chip in three goals, three assists and nine points; while junior forward Hannah Johnson and senior midfielder Anna Swanson both add three goals, one assist and seven points. Small has taken the most shots among the last four at 23. Sythe and Johnson each have 17 shots to their credit, while Swanson chimes in with 13. Senior midfielder Emily Morris is another threat. She has two goals, two assists, six points and 21 shots.
Sophomore goalkeeper Valentina Amaral has handled the bulk of the work in the net. She has a 7-2-2 record, a 0.68 gaa, 28 saves, a .778 save percentage and has been a part of six shutouts.
Only Hanks, Colton, Morris and senior defender Zara Chavoshi have started in all 18 of the team's contests.
Five Demon Deacons earned all-conference honors, including Hanks, Colton, Murphy, Chavoshi and Amaral.
Tony da Luz has been the team's coach for all but three of the program's seasons. In his 28 years at the helm, he owns a 315-199-61 record.
The teams have met twice before, both times in Winston-Salem and in the NCAA Tournament's First Round, with Wake winning both games 2-0. WFU is the only opponent MSU has met more than once in the NCAA Tournament.
The first meeting came on Nov. 14, 2008, when the Demon Deacons were ranked 23rd. Wake had advantages of 22-8 in shots (7-5 on goal) and 8-5 in corner kicks. MSU had more fouls (14-7) and the only yellow card. Both teams had five saves and were offside once.
The second contest was on Nov. 16, 2013. WFU was not ranked. Wake out-shot the Eagles 11-4 (3-2 on goal), had a 2-1 edge in both corner kicks and saves. MSU led in fouls 14-8. Both teams were offside once and the Eagles had the lone yellow card.
Friday's game can be viewed on ESPN+, which can be accessed at the link:
https://shorturl.at/LS2eC. Live stats are available at the link:
https://shorturl.at/SBn0h.
A win over Wake Forest would mean a date with either seventh-seeded Georgia or Colorado on Friday, Nov. 22.
