By Brandon Burke, UT Martin Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – The first score given up by the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team in the span of 287 minutes ultimately cost the top-seeded Skyhawks a bid to continue their season in the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title clash against 2nd-seed SIUE on Sunday afternoon, as the Cougars needed only one minute and 59 seconds of extra time to escape with a 1-0 heartbreaker.
Spoiling a superhuman performance by graduate keeper Erica Myers in what turned out to be her final appearance donning the navy and orange, two-time conference Forward of the Year MacKenzie Litzsinger drilled the golden goal from close range at the 91:59 mark of an ultra-intense battle, landing SIUE the culprit of UTM’s postseason elimination for the second time in the past seven months.
In a literal case of the best offense versus the best defense in the league – the Cougars’ 36 strikes giving them top billing in that category wherein the Skyhawks’ 15 goals allowed was the lowest in the league – the former prevailed at the climactic moment, but it wasn’t without a deep struggle thanks to UT Martin’s exceptional back line and Myers’ remarkable showing.
Entering Sunday’s affair with a 16-1 difference on the scoreboard across a five-match winning streak, SIUE attempted to pick up where they left off after a 3-0 decimation over Southeast Missouri 48 hours earlier in the Semi’s. It took a whopping 25 shots for the visitors to finally get what they were searching for, adding up to a streak of four hours and 47 minutes of field time without an opponent scoring on the hosting Skyhawks.
Able to keep the Cougars at bay despite a rapid sequence of attacks, UTM trotted to the locker room still tangled in a scoreless tie for the second match in a row, only able to register one shot while giving up nine. 15 more SIUE shots in the following 45 minutes still didn’t amount to the tiebreaker, at last appearing in the opening moments of overtime.
Myers leapt to the heavens to deny the Cougars their last three looks at the net in the crunch-time moments of the 2nd period, swiping a pair of high-percentage fires from Litzsinger along with an additional swat of Lily Schnieders’ attempt all within the last nine minutes. Calculating a career-high-tying 13 saves for her fourth double-digit save output, the fifth-year standout finishes her stay in Martin as the program leader in shutouts (23) and minutes played by a GK (7,468), participating in 41 wins along with 334 saves since 2017.
The senior-sister combo of Jaden and Jill Hildreth came inches away from producing what would have been the game-clincher in the 67th and 76th minutes respectively, the former ricocheting off the right post and the latter batted away by SIUE keeper Jensen Schoch in her only save of the day, improving to an 8-1 individual record in the Cougars’ sixth win in a row.
UT Martin was held without another shot during the last 12 minutes after Brooke Kala’s 80th-minute miss when factoring in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it OT frame, giving the team seven tries for the match. Jaden Hildreth and Makayla Robinson each put together a pair of shots each in the crushing defeat, whereas four different Cougars landed at least three looks inside the box. Litzsinger and Lily Schnieders added up for 11 attempts in the heart-stopping finish, concluding UTM’s fall season with an 11-6-1 final record.
Ending the 2021 campaign without a win in any of their three contests to advance beyond the 90-minute limit, the Skyhawks and 12th-year head coach Phil McNamara wrap up an extremely-accomplished year with an Ohio Valley Conference Regular Season crown, five all-league performers including the OVC Defender of the Year – Kamryn Chappell – and Freshman of the Year – Parker Gelinas, as well as three players on the all-conference tournament roster – Myers, Kala, and Emely van der Vliet.
Expectations for the 2022 season will be sky-high for the Skyhawks in the wake of their tremendous success, reaching the league’s postseason title match for the sixth time in the 23-year history of the program.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information