Barnthouse Hat Trick Fuels Racers in Victory over Eastern Illinois

Tuesday, April 6

Murray, Ky.

1 P.M.

Murray State

9-1-0, 9-1-0

Eastern Illinois

2-7-1, 2-7-1

Eastern Ill.

Murray St.

Photo by: Justine Ertl - Murray State Athletics

Barnthouse Hat Trick Fuels Racers in Victory over Eastern Illinois

4/6/2021 9:29:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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The freshman became the first Racer to collect three goals in a game since 2014 as the Racers cruised to a 4-0 triumph in the regular-season finale

Murray State women's soccer enjoyed a convincing victory in its final match of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman Chloe Barnthouse recorded the first Racer hat trick since 2014, while Lilly Strader chipped in a goal of her own as MSU cruised to a 4-0 triumph over Eastern Illinois at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky. The win also marked the tenth-straight home OVC victory for the Racers as they have gone perfect in OVC regular-season matches at Cutchin Field in back-to-back seasons.

"Thanks to the fans that came out today. These girls deserve it. They've put in so much work to get what we got today. It was great to see a lot of people get some minutes, and they didn't just come on and go through the motions – they came on and really brought something. It was awesome to celebrate on our own field. We know how good we are at home, and it is vital that we will get to host the tournament here as well," said MSU head coach Matt Lodge.

The Racers (9-1) opened the scoring in just the fourth minute and never looked back, taking a 1-0 lead as Barnthouse scored her first goal of the afternoon when she finished a rebounded shot from Rebecca Kubin in the game's opening stages.

Lilly Strader doubled the MSU advantage just ten minutes later when the Hopkinsville, Kentucky native found the side netting with a perfectly-placed strike after receiving a clever ball from Lauren Payne to give the Racers a 2-0 lead in the 13^th minute.

Murray State carried that score line into the halftime break after dominating the first 45 minutes – outshooting the Panthers 13-5 in the first half.

The relentless Racer attack got back to work straight away out of the break, widening their margin to three when Barnthouse guided a header past the Panther goalkeeper off a cross from Izzy Heckman in the 47^th minute of action.

With two goals to her name already, Barnthouse capped off her impressive day by completing the hat-trick performance when she found the net with a clinical header once again - this time coming from a perfectly-weighted ball from the foot of freshman Riley Johnson.

The hat trick is the 12^th in program history and the first since Julie Mooney accomplished the feat on October 10^th, 2014 in Murray State's 5-0 triumph over Morehead State. With the three scores, Barnthouse, a West Bloomfield, Michigan native, brings her goal total to a team-leading seven on the season.

"It's what we see every day in training. She's so dangerous, not only in behind the defense, but in the air too. She had two headers today and could have probably had three or four. She actually wasn't originally starting today, but we had an injury in the warmup and I said 'hey, you're starting' so I think for going from not starting to scoring a hat trick is pretty cool," added Lodge on the performance of Barnthouse.

For Strader, the goal is her fourth of the campaign, while goalkeeper Jenna Villacres recorded her third clean sheet of the year.

The four goals as a team and the 29 total shots in the outing both mark new season highs for the Racers, who are now set to host this year's OVC Tournament as the competition's #1 seed. They will meet Southeast Missouri in the #1/#4 matchup on Thursday, April 15^th at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky. Kickoff is set for 11:00 a.m.

"Thanks to the fans that came out today. These girls deserve it. They've put in so much work to get what we got today...it was awesome to celebrate on our own field."

- Head coach Matt Lodge after Murray State's 4-0 victory over EIU in the season finale ⚽️ #WeAreRacers🏇 pic.twitter.com/X7k1IRmK39
— Murray State Soccer (@RacerSoccer) April 7, 2021