MOREHEAD – For the third straight year, the Morehead State women's soccer team has started its Ohio Valley Conference campaign 2-0 as the Eagles dropped Western Illinois 2-0 on Thursday at the John MacKenzie Alumni Field in Macomb, Ill. It was the team's first-ever win over the Leathernecks.
Behind goals from freshman forward
Ava Peck and sophomore midfielder
Mary Trudeau, Morehead State (5-3-3/2-0-0) extended its unbeaten streak to four games. MSU also improved to 3-2-2 on the road this fall.
"Overall, it wasn't our best game, but we all worked very hard to get the result," Peck said. "I think we adjusted well to their shape and style of play and stayed patient throughout the entire game to get the goals."
The Eagles' recent successes bring back an old theme from earlier this season. They have the best record after 11 games since 2014, when the squad began 5-2-4. It is the program's second-best mark at this point in the season in school history.
MSU has outscored its two OVC opponents 7-1.
Eagle head coach Paul Cox felt the team missed some golden chances to pad its lead, but play was slowed by a playing surface that he described as "thick grass."
"We had two goals going into the game, (get) three points and a clean sheet and we got both," he said. "Our performance was okay but was hard on a difficult surface. We will rest up and get ready for a good Little Rock team."
Peck opened the scoring at 24:30 with her third goal of the year.
"Hedda and I did a good job pressing and closing in on the defender," Peck said of the play. "Hedda won the tackle and slipped a ball through to me where I placed it to the right side of the goalkeeper.
"We won the ball outside the 18 and my shot came from just inside the 18 on the right," she added.
It was the lone score of the first half as MSU held an 8-1 edge in shots and 3-0 advantage in corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.
Western Illinois (0-9-0/0-2-0) salvaged an attempt by sophomore defender
Natasha Tanner by clearing the ball off the line for a team save at 54:28.
Junior
Gracen Houck carried the ball from her defensive position before being taken down in the box resulting in a penalty kick in the 67th minute. Trudeau was tabbed to take the shot, but her attempt bounced off the right post.
The Eagles had a few more chances the rest of the way, but did not break through again until two minutes and three seconds remained on the clock when Trudeau earned redemption for her missed PK.
Again, Ornberg was the catalyst, but her shot attempt ricocheted back and eventually found Trudeau.
"Hedda did all the work but didn't finish and the ball bounced out to me, so I got lucky and just placed it," Trudeau said. "I was right inside the 18 and in the middle and one-timed the rebound from Hedda's shot.
"And I hit the post (on my penalty kick), so the goal later on was nice," she added.
Trudeau became the sixth different Eagle to score this year. It was her first career goal.
"I think we have played better but the result is all that matters," Trudeau said. "We connected a lot of passes and played through them, which was hard because they sat very deep and compact, and we haven't played against that kind of press yet."
For the game, Morehead State held significant advantages in virtually every statistical category. It led 19-3 in total shots, including 7-0 in shots on goal. MSU also had five of the day's six corner kicks.
The hosts were whistled for nine fouls to the Eagles' five. The Blue and Gold were flagged for being offside four times to WIU's three. MSU also had two yellow cards. The Leathernecks had one.
Trudeau led the team with four shots. Ornberg, Peck and Tanner each had three. Kayla Turner, Callie McMurtrey and Alexis Betker notched one shot apiece to top the hosts. Freshman
Lilly Bailey went the distance in the Eagles' net, but since the Leathernecks had no shots on frame, she had no saves.
Ariel Bernard had four saves in WIU's goal. The team was credited with a save as well.
MSU held possession of the ball for 56 percent of the game and 62 percent of the time it was in the Leathernecks' defensive zone.
Western Illinois dropped its ninth straight game and fell to 1-14-4 over its last 19 outings dating back to last fall. The Leathernecks are 0-4 at home this year and have been outscored 11-0 in those contests.
The all-time series between the two teams now stands at 1-1-1. It was the first-ever meeting in Macomb.
MSU returns home to face upstart Little Rock on Sunday at noon. However, due to the impending impact of Hurricane Helene, keep up with MSU's social media sites and the msueagles.com website for updates on changes to the schedule. The promotions for the game include "Pups at the Pitch" and free hot dogs.
