MOREHEAD – After the Morehead State soccer team began its season by posting its best August record in 10 years, the Eagles' September has not been as kind.
The Blue and Gold will try to reverse that trend as it travels to face first-year Division I program Mercyhurst on Sunday at 1 p.m., at Saxon Stadium in Erie, Pa.
Both clubs enter the contest having struggled of late. Mercyhurst (0-7-0) is winless in all seven of its games this season and will be playing its first home contest as a Division I school. Morehead State (3-3-1) has dropped its last two outings, Thursday, Sept. 5, at Wright State (3-0) and Sunday, Sept. 8, at home versus Northern Kentucky (1-0). The Eagles last had a two-game slide from Aug. 20-24, 2022. They have not lost back-to-back road games since Sept. 3-10, 2023.
The two foes have a combined 2-9-1 record on the road.
MSU head coach Paul Cox is looking to change those fortunes and end the team's recent struggles.
"This is our first big road trip of the season, and it comes off the back of a bad week," he said. "We've tweaked a few things and are looking to bounce back right away. We are two games away from conference (play) and see this as good preparation for the OVC (Ohio Valley Conference)."
The Eagles are 2-2-1 on the road this season, winning the two previous games (against Eastern Kentucky and Bellarmine) before falling to Wright State in their last outing away from home. Sunday is MSU's final non-conference road game of the season.
MSU has had problems of late with its first-half offense, taking only three total shots over the 90 minutes of the last two opening segments.
Morehead State is averaging 0.71 goals per game, 9.0 shots per game, 3.29 corner kicks per game, 9.57 fouls per game and 2.29 offside calls per game. In addition, the club is averaging four saves per game with freshmen keepers
Lilly Bailey and
Claire Cress sharing time in the net.
MSU's opponents are averaging 1.14 gpg, 13.9 shots per game, 4.71 ckpg, 7.29 fpg, 3.43 offside calls per game and 3.43 saves per game.
The Eagles have been held scoreless the last two times on the pitch, marking the first time that has happened since August 24-30, 2023, when the team fell to Indiana 3-0 and then tied Wright State 0-0. The current scoreless streak has reached 234 minutes and 34 seconds. MSU has played in four straight shutouts, winning two and falling in the others.
Freshman forward
Carlie Thurmond continues to lead the squad offensively. She has two goals, one assist and five points. Junior midfielder
Kennedy Baquero has moved to the top of the shots' list with 11. Thurmond has 10. Baquero has one goal and two points this fall. Freshman forward
Ava Peck adds one goal, one assist and five points. She has taken just five shots.
After playing just the first 17 minutes and 54 seconds of the season opener against Marshall, Bailey returned to the lineup to start the second half of the NKU outing. She owns a 2.86 goals against average, plus five saves, a .714 save percentage and a 0-1-0 record. Cress, who started the six games between the opener and the NKU second half, has a 0.95 gaa, 22 saves, a .786 save percentage, a 3-2-1 record and two shutouts.
Mercyhurst has lost all seven games on the road this year and is in the middle of a nine-game overall skid, including its NCAA Division II Tournament first-round contest last fall. All nine of those games came on the road. Conversely, the Lakers have been dominant at home, having posted a 10-0 mark there in 2023, as well as claiming their last outing of 2022, to boast an 11-game win streak. During that time, Mercyhurst has outscored its opponents 32-2.
This year, the Lakers have been outscored 35-3. However, that includes three games against power-conference foes (4-0 at Marquette on Sept. 12, 7-0 at Pittsburgh on Sept. 8, 2-1 at Northern Kentucky on September 1, 9-0 at Dayton on Aug. 29, 5-0 at Syracuse on Aug. 25, 2-0 at Niagara on Aug. 18 and 6-2 at Duquesne on Aug. 15).
MU is averaging 0.43 gpg, 3.4 shots per game, 1.71 ckpg, 8.71 fpg, 1.14 offside calls per game and 10.43 saves per game. Its opponents own averages of 5.0 gpg, 32.9 shots per game, 13.29 ckpg, 8.14 fpg, 2.43 offside calls per game and 1.14 saves per game.
Freshman midfielder Rosie Bandura, freshman midfielder Annaliese Black and sophomore midfielder Camille Bultel have the team's three goals. None of them were assisted. Sophomore forward Madison Sievering leads the club with five shots. Sophomore defender Anamari Bosnjak and graduate student midfielder/forward Emily Mijares each have three. Four Lakers have seen time in the net, with graduate student Chelsea Radicia and senior Kate Costantini garnering the most minutes. Radicia has a 4.09 gaa, 46 saves, a .730 save percentage and a 0-4-0 record. Constantini has a 5.88 gaa, 19 saves, a .543 save percentage and a 0-3-0 record.
Thirty-four Lakers have made it onto the field, but only senior midfielder Teagan Mehalko, graduate student defender Alyssa Poleski and senior forward Karah Van Horn have started every game.
Mercyhurst is MSU's only first-time opponent this season. The Eagles have faced five colleges from Pennsylvania: Duquesne (0-1-0), Lafayette (0-1-0), LaSalle (0-0-1), Saint Francis (0-0-2) and Pittsburg (0-1-0); and remain winless (0-3-3) against Keystone State foes.
Three of those six matchups took place in Pennsylvania: a 1-1 double-overtime tie at Saint Francis on Aug. 25, 2013; a 1-0 double-overtime loss at Pittsburgh on Aug. 19, 2018; and a 3-0 loss at Duquesne on Sept. 9, 2018. Two of the contests came at a neutral site: a 1-0 defeat over Lafayette at Marshall on Sept. 1, 2000; and a 0-0 double-overtime tie against LaSalle at Marshall on Sept. 11, 2005.
Mercyhurst is a provisional Division I program. The Eagles have played 11 games against schools transitioning to Division I: Bellarmine (1-0-1), Lindenwood (2-0-0), USC Upstate (0-1-0), Southern Indiana (1-1-0), SIUE (0-1-0), Queens (N.C.) (0-0-1) and Purdue-Fort Wayne (0-2-0). MSU is 4-5-2 in those contests.
The game will be broadcast on NEC Front Row (
http://necfrontrow.com/game/12429). Live stats are also available (
https://hurstathletics.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary).
The Eagles will host their next two matches, Thursday, Sept. 19, against Radford at 4 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 22, versus Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m.
