Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
9-2-0, 9-2-0
Southeast Missouri
7-3-1, 7-3-1
Racers Fall to SEMO in OVC Tournament Semifinal
4/15/2021 5:44:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Murray State is held scoreless for the first time since October 11, 2019 as they come up short against the Redhawks 1-0
Murray State women's soccer dominated every statistic outside of the scoring column in Thursday's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinal against Southeast Missouri at Cutchin Field. MSU outshot the Redhawks 20-10 on the day while earning 13 corners to the opposition's one, but the top-seeded Racers fell to fourth-seed SEMO by a 1-0 score line on their home pitch in Murray, Kentucky.
The lone goal of the contest game in the 12th minute when SEMO's Morgan McCourt set up Emma Brune for a strike at the top of the of the 18-yard box that deflected off of Murray State's Lauren Payne before finding the net to give the Redhawks a 1-0 advantage in the opening stages of the first half.
Despite 13 first-half shots (five on target) and 57% of the possession through the first 45 minutes of action, the Racers could not find a breakthrough as SEMO clung to the slimmest of margins entering the halftime break.
The Redhawks kept more of the ball in the second 45 as they looked to protect their lead, and did so successfully as they held the Racers to just two shots on target in the second half of play.
Southeast Missouri, who led the OVC with five shutouts in the regular season, added one more to their tally as Murray State failed to score a goal for the first time since falling to Tennessee Tech 3-0 on October 11, 2019 – snapping the Racers' 15-game team scoring streak as they came up short in the OVC Tournament semifinals for the second-straight season.
Izzy Heckman, Symone Cooper, and Lilly Strader each generated four shots while Strader and Heckman put a pair of attempts on goal for the Racers. Jenna Villacres made six saves between the posts in the defeat.
The loss also broke Murray State's ten-game home winning streak against Ohio Valley Conference opponents as their last loss to an OVC foe at Cutchin Field prior to Thursday came on October 21, 2018 in a 1-0 contest against Eastern Kentucky.
The Racers finish the season with a 9-2 record and a regular-season Ohio Valley Conference title – their fifth in program history.
Team Stats
Emma Brune (2)
Assisted By: Morgan McCourt
GOAL by SEM Brune, Emma Assist by McCourt, Morgan.
11:39
