MOREHEAD – The Morehead State soccer team opened Ohio Valley Conference play in grand fashion as it unleashed five goals in a 5-1 win over Eastern Illinois on Sunday at the MSU Soccer Field in Morehead, Ky.
It has taken a while for the Eagles to find their offensive touch this season, but on Sunday seven different players contributed to the scoring effort, the team's highest goal tally since a 5-2 victory on Aug. 20, 2023, against Detroit Mercy and the most at home since Oct. 26, 2014, when it beat visiting EIU 5-0. The 14 points it accumulated ties for the seventh-best mark in school history, while the five goals ties for the fifth most.
A big part of the production came off the feet (and thigh) of sophomore forward
Hedda Ornberg, who collected the sixth hat trick in school history and the first since Jade Flory accomplished the feat versus Illinois-Chicago on Aug. 29, 2014.
Watch Ornberg discuss the win and her goals on MSU's YouTube channel.
The offensive outburst was significant on several fronts.
It was the team's first win since Aug. 29, a stretch of 24 days and five games. It was a season high in shots with 24 (bettering the previous mark by four). It was the first victory over Eastern Illinois since Oct. 1, 2017 (and the first over the Panthers in Morehead since Oct. 9, 2016) and the first ever when EIU was the team's OVC-opening opponent (now 1-5-1).
Morehead State (4-3-3) had historically struggled in its first conference game of the season, but that record improved to 9-15-3 overall and 3-10-0 at home on Sunday, 14 years after it claimed its previous win in Morehead. However, the Blue and Gold have now won three straight OVC openers and are undefeated in its last four outings.
The victory raised the team's mark at home to 2-1-1 this fall and extended its overall unbeaten streak to three games and two straight in Morehead. Sunday was the final contest of a season-high two-game home stand.
MSU coach Paul Cox said the Eagles' offense had been knocking on the door for several weeks. Now it has been let inside.
Watch Cox talk about the win and the offensive explosion on MSU's YouTube channel.
The Eagles opened the scoring nine minutes and 26 seconds into the game when a redirected pass off an EIU player reached sophomore midfielder
Mary Trudeau, who did a one-touch pass to
Kennedy Baquero. The junior midfielder then collected the ball, turned her body and lofted a shot from 25 yards out in the middle of the field over the goalkeeper's head.
Ornberg tallied her first goal at the 28:45 mark. Freshman defender
Ella Fuller dribbled down the left side and passed a through ball forward to Ornberg, who dribbled once and placed a shot to the left of the charging goalkeeper from 10 yards out.
MSU carried a 2-0 advantage into halftime and nearly made it 3-0 within seconds of the start of the second period, but senior forward
Erin Fite's jumping six-yard shot ricocheted off the left post.
The third goal was a give-and-go inside the box from freshman forward
Ava Peck to Ornberg, who slid the ball into the right corner of the goal from eight yards out at the 55:06 mark.
A scramble for the ball in front of the net resulted in EIU's goal, ending a scoreless streak that had reached 410 minutes and 39 seconds. Abby Reinl came away with the ball, turned, took a dribble to the right side and shot it over the head of MSU freshman goalkeeper
Lilly Bailey from 12 yards out. The unassisted score came at the 59:31 mark.
In the 81st minute, Eastern Illinois thought it had scored again after one of its players kicked in a loose ball among a cluster of people just feet from the net, but the play was waved off due to an offside call.
About four and a half minutes later, the Eagles tallied their fourth goal. Sophomore defender
Hannah Burke collected a pass that came from the left side of the field and was headed by an EIU defender. The ball then landed at Burke's feet, and she unleashed a blast from 12 yards out on the right side and inside the left post. It was Burke's first career goal.
Fite moved into a tie for ninth on the MSU career assist list when she crossed the ball from the left side to Ornberg on the right of the goal box. Ornberg redirected the pass off her right thigh and into the left side of the net from eight yards out at the 87:37 mark.
Eastern Illinois (2-5-3) extended its winless streak to five games, fell to 0-3-2 on the road this season (and 0-4-2 dating back to last fall) and to 8-16-5 all time in OVC openers, including 0-4-2 in the last six years.
After holding a 10-1 edge in shots at halftime, Morehead State extended it to 24-8, including a 10-4 lead in shots on goal, by the end of the afternoon. Both teams took six corner kicks, with five of the Panthers' attempts coming in the final 45 minutes. The Blue and Gold held a 52-48 edge in possession percentage and kept the ball within 25 yards of the EIU goal for 42 percent, and on the visitor's side of the field for 58 percent, of its possession time.
MSU was whistled for nine fouls to Eastern Illinois' three and junior defender
Gracen Houck picked up her team-leading third yellow card of the season, the only one issued in the game. EIU was flagged for being offside four times to Morehead State's two.
Nine Eagles had at least one shot. Trudeau led the way with six, followed by Ornberg with five. Peck and Fite each had three.
Reinl, Avery Richardson and Alex Tetteh each had two shots to pace the visitors.
Bailey played all 90 minutes and picked up her first win in goal. She finished with three saves. Reigning OVC Goalkeeper of the Week, Ashlyn Hoover, collected five saves, but allowed all five goals to fall to 2-5-3.
MSU's next outing will feature a return to the road for its first ever OVC trip to face Western Illinois on Thursday. Kickoff for that game will be at 4 p.m. ET. The Eagles are back at the MSU Soccer Field next Sunday to host Little Rock at noon.
