MOREHEAD – After completing a slate of nine non-conference games, the Morehead State women's soccer team is ready to head into the next phase of its schedule and begin Ohio Valley Conference play with Eastern Illinois coming to the MSU Soccer Field on Sunday for a 1 p.m. kickoff. It will be the second and final contest of the Eagles' season-high two-game home stand.
OVC openers are good news, bad news for Morehead State (3-3-3). In the last three outings, the Blue and Gold has won twice and tied once. However, when that opponent has been Eastern Illinois that record goes to 0-4-1. In its 26-year history, MSU is 8-15-3 in the first conference game of the season, including 2-10 at home, with the wins coming in 2004 and 2010.
"This is what it's all boiled down to, and what we've been preparing for," said MSU head coach Paul Cox. "EIU are a well-organized team, who have played a good non-conference schedule and it's going to be a good first test. We are ready for conference play."
The Eagles enter the contest having tied their last two outings, 1-1 on Thursday at home against Radford and 2-2 last Sunday at Mercyhurst. Before that, the squad dropped a pair of games to Wright State and Northern Kentucky. Morehead State has not come out victorious since an Aug. 29, road matchup at Bellarmine (1-0).
The Blue and Gold is 1-1-1 at home this year.
MSU is averaging 0.89 goals per game, 10.4 shots per game, 3.56 corner kicks per game, 8.89 fouls per game, 2.44 offside violations per game and 4.22 saves per game. Eagle opponents sport per-game averages of 1.22 gpg, 13.7 shots per game, 4.11 ckpg, 7.22 fpg, 3.22 offside calls per game and 3.89 saves per game.
MSU continues to be a second-half offensive team. Over the last six games, it has taken 20 shots in the first half and 43 in the second. It also has earned more corner kicks in the final 45 minutes of those outings. However, those chances have not translated into more goals. In the past six contests, it has scored twice in both halves.
Freshman forward
Carlie Thurmond continues to lead the team in scoring, despite averaging just 41 minutes per game. She has three goals, two assists, eight points, and has taken 13 shots. Freshman forward
Ava Peck has two goals, one assist and five points on just six shots. Junior midfielder
Kennedy Baquero has two goals, four points and a team-high 20 shots, including 11 on goal.
Freshman
Lilly Bailey arguably had her best game as an Eagle on Thursday, when she saved a career-high six shots. She has started and played all 90 minutes in each of the last two outings. She sports a 1.85 goals against average, made 15 saves, recorded a .750 save percentage, and owns a 0-1-2 record. Freshman
Claire Cress boasts a 0.95 gaa, 22 saves, a .786 save percentage, a 3-2-1 record and two shutouts.
Like MSU, Eastern Illinois (2-4-3) is 0-2-2 in its last four games. However, it tied its last outing at Indiana State (0-0) and lost at home to Northern Illinois (3-0) before that. Its other recent results include a 2-0 defeat at IU Indianapolis and a 2-2 tie at Eastern Kentucky. It has been outscored 7-2 during that stretch and enters Sunday having gone scoreless for 351 minutes and eight seconds.
The Panthers have not played in 10 days and only once in the last 14. The team is winless on the road this year at 0-2-2. Overall, the winless streak dates to 2023 and has reached five games. Its last victory was at home against Illinois Springfield (3-0) on Aug. 29, and most recent Division I conquest was on Aug. 22, in Charleston, Ill., versus Valparaiso (1-0).
In addition, it is 0-3-2 in its past five OVC openers, with its last victory coming in 2018 at MSU. Eastern Illinois sports an 8-12-5 all-time record in its first conference game of the season.
EIU is averaging 0.78 gpg, 8.1 shots per game, 2.89 ckpg, 8.78 fpg, 1.67 offside violations per game and 3.78 saves per game. Its opponent posts 1.44 gpg, 14.9 shots per game, 5.22 ckpg, 7.0 fpg, 0.56 offside violations per game and 3.33 saves per game.
Sophomore forward Alex Tettsh leads the team with three goals and six points. She also has a squad best 15 shots. Junior midfielder Kate Germano and senior forward Carys Grieve both have one goal, one assist and three points. Sophomore forward Abby Reinl has one goal, two points and has taken 12 shots. Junior defender Kya Trejo also has one goal and two points but on just one shot.
Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ashlyn Hoover owns a 1.44 gaa, 34 saves, a .723 save percentage, a 2-4-3 record, three shutouts and is the reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week.
Sixteen Panthers have seen the field, with Tetteh, Germano, freshman defender Colleen Bauer, junior midfielder Ella Onstott, Hoover, freshman defender Casey Kittridge and senior midfielder Avery Richardson starting all nine games.
Eastern Illinois holds a 15-9-6 edge in the series. The last three years the games have ended in a tie (1-1 at EIU in 2023, 0-0 at MSU in 2022 and 1-1 at EIU in 2021). Before that, the Panthers had won three straight (1-0 in double overtime at EIU in March of 2021, 3-0 at EIU in 2019 and 1-0 at MSU in 2018). The Panthers also won the first nine meetings of the series.
Morehead State holds the advantage at home (6-5-2) and on a neutral field (2-0-0), but trails significantly in Charleston, Ill., (2-10-4). The Eagles' last triumph (3-1) came on the road in October 2017, the final of three straight victories. The last time the Blue and Gold won in Morehead (1-0) was in October 2016.
The Eagles' current six-game winless drought is the second longest in the series, trailing only the 10 (including nine losses and one tie) in a row from 1998-2006. Over the last 10 years, MSU has outscored the Panthers 12-8.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. It can be viewed at the link:
https://shorturl.at/biyro. Live stats are available at
https://shorturl.at/76CMH.
It also will be Youth Soccer Day and team members will be signing autographs after the game.
MSU will return to the road to face Western Illinois on Thursday in its next outing. Kickoff for that game will be at 4 p.m. ET. The Eagles are back at home that Sunday to host Little Rock at noon.
