MOREHEAD – The Morehead State soccer team, which is off to its best start since 2014 and owns a school-record nine-game home unbeaten streak, will travel west on I64 to Louisville to face Bellarmine, hoping to continue its outstanding early-season results. The two teams will meet on Thursday at Owsley B. Frazier Stadium for a 7 p.m. tilt.
In addition to its other noteworthy stats, the Eagles are on a two-game win streak and have gone 4-2-1 on the road in their last seven contests.
Head coach Paul Cox looks to build on those marks.
"They're a hard team to scout given their two results. However, we know they have athleticism and good technical players that can create dangerous attacking opportunities," he said. "We are looking forward to playing again after Sunday's win."
Morehead State (2-1-1) is 1-1-1 on the road this fall, having opened the campaign with three consecutive games away from the MSU Soccer Field. In its most recent outing, the Blue and Gold topped Detroit Mercy 1-0 on Sunday in its home opener.
Newcomers have tallied every goal this season and have two of the team's four assists. No player has made a bigger impact on the scoreboard than freshman forward
Carlie Thurmond, who has two goals, one assist, five points, one game-winning goal and seven shots, all team highs. She has recorded at least one point in three of the four games to date and is the first Eagle to have tallied five points through four contests since Ashley Ritchie registered seven in 2016.
In addition to her impressive offense, Thurmond has done it by averaging just 41.25 minutes per game. Her only start this season came against Detroit Mercy.
Senior forward
Erin Fite, junior midfielder
Kennedy Baquero, sophomore defender
Hannah Burke and freshman forward
Ava Peck have all notched at least one point, spreading the scoring out among the classes. In addition, Fite is two assists behind a spot on MSU's top-10 career list.
The defense has also been stellar. Sophomore
Mary Trudeau has held down the midfield, while graduate student
Anna Lohrer has anchored the back line. Both have played every minute this season.
Lohrer was honored with her second career Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week honor on Tuesday. She has helped keep MSU's opponents off the scoreboard for a current streak of 175 minutes and 50 seconds. The Eagles have tied the 2010 team for the fewest number of goals allowed through their first four games. In addition, their foes are averaging 12.8 shots per game, but only converting on .078 percent of those chances, a number that was down to .056 in the two outings last week.
Freshman goalkeeper
Claire Cress collected her first career shutout in Sunday's win. She has a 2-1-1 record, an .079 goals against average and 2.75 saves per game, ranking among the conference leaders in each category.
As a team, MSU is averaging 1.00 goals per game and 9.8 shots per game, has taken 15 corner kicks, been whistled for 46 fouls and flagged for being offside seven times. Eagle opponents also have scored 1.0 gpg, registered 12.8 shots per game, taken 18 corner kicks, committed 29 fouls and been offside 17 times.
Bellarmine (1-1-0) has polarizing results to date, losing at Louisville 7-0 and defeating Asbury at home 8-0. Last year's Knights dropped their final four outings at Frazier Stadium and last beat a Division I opponent there on September 28 (4-2 over Jacksonville). The eight goals against Asbury was a Division I school record.
Last year's club finished 4-9-5 overall and 3-5-2 at home. The win over Asbury snapped a six-game losing skid.
BU is averaging 4.00 gpg, while allowing 3.50 gpg. It has notched 30 shots to its opponents' 27. Both the Knights and their opponents have taken seven corner kicks, while also committing 16 fouls to their opponents' 14. They have been called for being offside seven times to just two for their foes.
Senior midfielder/forward Emma Nicholson scored four goals in the win over Asbury, helping her to earn Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honors. It tied a school record in the Division I era. Sophomore midfielder Rachel Skyberg has two goals, and junior forward Lucy von Stefenelli and senior forward Sophie Bish each has one. Redshirt sophomore defender Dakota Bramer has a team-best three assists, while Skyberg adds two. Nicholson has taken 10 shots, with Bish next at five, followed by von Stefenelli at four. Eight team members have started both games.
Senior Cambria Kingman played most, but not all, of the minutes in goal. She sports a 1-1-0 record, a 4.97 gaa, with 6.5 saves per game. Senior Natalie Schutte got in net for 25 minutes and 22 seconds against Asbury and made one save.
Both teams' coaches are in their first season, Cox at MSU and Callie McKinney at Bellarmine. McKinney previously served as the team's assistant from 2020-23.
The two teams have only met once in the fall (they did face off in the spring of 2022), tying 1-1 in Morehead on September 7 of last year. MSU is 0-5 all-time in regular-season contests in Louisville.
In last September's game,
Colleen Swift got the Eagles on the board just 57 seconds into the game. The Knights got the equalizer on a penalty kick by redshirt junior defender Alexa Orozco in the 58th minute.
Bellarmine finished with a 10-8 advantage in shots (8-4 on target) and a 4-3 edge in corner kicks. BU was whistled for 11 fouls to MSU's nine. The hosts were flagged for being offside once, the only time it occurred during the game. The Eagles also got both yellow cards that were issued.
Erin Gibbs finished with seven saves for the Blue and Gold, while the Knights had two keepers get time in the net. Kingman saw 45 minutes of action and made one save, while redshirt sophomore Shelby Smith played the other 45 minutes and had two saves. Kingman gave up the goal.
Nicholson had a team-high three shots for the visitors, while
Nicole Fiantaco registered three for the Eagles.
Live video of the game can be seen at the link
https://bit.ly/4cKos0N and live stats viewed at the link
https://bit.ly/3T91QzU.
After Bellarmine, Morehead State will have a week off before it plays again on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Wright State. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The Eagles next home outing is on Sunday, Sept. 8, against Northern Kentucky at 1 p.m.
