MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State women's soccer team will entertain Lindenwood on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the MSU Soccer Field in Morehead. It will be a rematch of the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Championship that the Lions won 3-2.
It would seem to be a game of redemption for the Eagles and coach
Paul Cox, except for the fact that only eight players from last year's team are currently suiting up for the Blue and Gold.
Motivational speeches aside, Cox will take a different approach.
"Lindenwood are good," he said. "We need to keep their key players quiet and look to put away the chances we are creating."
Morehead State (3-8-0/1-1-0) will look to bounce back from a disappointing outing on Thursday, when despite playing toe-to-toe with Southern Indiana in Evansville, Ind., the Eagles surrendered a goal in the 81st minute and fell 1-0.
The good news is that MSU will be playing at home, where the team is 3-3 this season and won its last game (last Thursday over Western Illinois 1-0) and two of its last three (also including a 1-0 victory over Miami, Ohio, on September 4).
So far, the 2025 campaign has been a reversal of 2024. Last fall, the Eagles posted a 6-4-4 mark on the road and were just 2-3-2 at home. This season, all of MSU's wins have come at home and the squad has dropped six straight on the road dating back to the 2024 NCAA Tournament game with Wake Forest.
Morehead State has had difficulty scoring this year but has tallied a goal in four of its last six outings. Five of those games were decided by a single point.
So far this season, the Eagles have been outscored 23-6. The last time the team tallied six goals through 10 games was in the spring of 2021. The last time the team allowed 23 goals through the first 11 contests was in 2018.
MSU is averaging 0.55 goals per game, 10.1 shots per game, 3.91 shots on goal per game, 3.00 corner kicks per game, 8.18 fouls per game, 0.73 offside flags per game, 5.64 saves per game and 0.91 cards per game. Its opponents are averaging 2.09 gpg, 15.8 shots per game, 7.82 shots on goal per game, 5.82 ckpg, 9.18 fpg, 1.82 offside flags per game, 3.46 saves per game and 0.73 cpg.
Senior midfielder
Kennedy Baquero continues to lead the team with two goals, one assist, five points and seven shots. Freshman forward
Jade Walton is next with one goal, one assist, three points and 15 shots. Graduate student midfielder
Karissa Vela, and freshmen defenders
Faith Peper and
Addison Petry both have scored once. Sophomore forward and junior midfielder/defender
Hannah Burke both have two assists. Vela is tied with Walton for a team-high 15 shots. Sophomore forward
Ava Peck adds 14 shots.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Claire Cress has a 3-8-0 record, a 2.00 goals-against average, 59 saves, a .738 save percentage and three shutouts.
After starting the season 3-0, Lindenwood (4-3-3/1-1-0) is 1-3-3. It dropped Thursday's game at home with UT Martin 4-2. Prior to that, the Lions beat Southeast Missouri at home 1-0, tied Indiana State 0-0 on the road, fell at home to Southern Illinois 1-0 and tied Belmont at home 0-0.
LU is 2-1-1 on the road this season. Its last outing was against Indiana State, before that it lost to Kansas City 3-2 and beat Murray State 1-0.
Junior forward Anna Johnson is the reigning OVC Offensive Player of the Week. She leads the team with two goals, two assists, six points and 26 shots. Sophomore forward Tasneem Dizdarevic and junior defender Allison Schrumpf both have two goals, one assist and five points. Dizdarevic has taken 17 shots, with Schrumpf registering 14. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Compton, senior midfielder Rachel Jackson and senior midfielder Ava Blum all have one goal, one assist and three points. Compton tops the squad with 28 shots.
Sophomore Caroline Ritter has played every minute in the net this season. She has a 4-3-3 record, a 1.00 gaa, 54 saves, an .844 save percentage and five shutouts.
Dave Musso is in his eighth season as the team's head coach with a 62-67-25 record.
The two teams have met four times in their history, including twice last season. MSU has a 2-1-1 edge in the series, winning 1-0 in St. Charles, Mo., in 2022 and 2-0 at home in 2023. Last fall, the teams tied 1-1 at Lindenwood in the regular season and then faced off again in the OVC Tournament finals, in Cookeville, Tenn., when the Lions won 3-2.
In the first meeting of 2024, MSU's
Anna Lohrer scored off a corner kick from
Gracen Houck at 51:39. Compton picked up the equalizer on an assist from Dodd and Johnson at 57:39.
LU won the battle of shots (20-12) and corner kicks (6-3). It also had more offside calls (3-2). The Eagles had more fouls (12-6) and received the lone card. The Lions had five total saves, including four from Ritter.
Lilly Bailey had four saves for the visitors. Compton led all performers with seven shots. Four Eagles recorded two.
In Cookeville, MSU got on the board first after an own goal at 20:47. The Eagles moved ahead 2-0 after
Hedda Ornberg scored unassisted at 32:52. Compton answered just after halftime, scoring unassisted at 49:14, while Johnson gaining the equalizer off an assist from Georgia Pardalos at 82:46. Lindenwood sealed the victory when Dizdarevic converted a penalty kick at 85:09.
The Lions had advantages in shots (26-11), corner kicks (7-3) and saves (6-5). They also had fewer fouls (10-12) and offside flags (2-3). MSU had both cards. Ritter had six saves, Bailey had five. Johnson took nine shots, with Compton recording eight. Baquero had a team-best three for the Blue and Gold.
Sunday is "Pups at the Pitch" Day, when dogs will be welcomed (and admitted free). In addition, fans can enjoy $1 hot dogs.
For ticket information, click the link:
https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/16917.
Live stats can be found at the link:
https://shorturl.at/cE7A9.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be viewed at the link:
https://shorturl.at/DdspC.
The Eagles will have a week off before they play next. They will travel to Charleston, Ill., to face Eastern Illinois on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. ET. Morehead State's next home game will be on Thursday, Oct. 9, when it entertains Tennessee Tech at 4 p.m.
