By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team looked to be in cruise control for a win on the final day of the regular season but three goals by Southeast Missouri in the closing 10 minutes spoiled the afternoon as the Redhawks escaped with a 4-2 victory.
The Skyhawks conclude the regular season with a 3-9-4 overall mark while going 1-5-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Despite the final decision, UT Martin enters next week’s OVC Soccer Championship as the No. 7 seed and will square off against No. 6 seed Little Rock in the first round to be played in Morehead, Ky on Friday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m. CST.
Southeast Missouri (8-6-2, 4-2-2 OVC) jumped out to an early lead as Emma Brune scored a header in the 13th minute off a pair of assists by Zoe Houston and Faith Liljegren following a quick corner kick. That early advantage stayed in the Redhawks favor heading into halftime.
UT Martin then got on the board quickly coming out of halftime as a pair of lead passes by Ryann Mushkin and Nyeemah Prescod-Beckles set up Makayla Robinson perfectly for her third goal of the season just under two minutes into the second period. With the score knotted up, the Skyhawks then took advantage of an outnumbered Redhawk squad as Izzy Patterson found Megan Drake down the right side who then dribbled into the box and fired the go-ahead score into the net in the 57th minute.
The Redhawks stayed aggressive despite playing with just 10 players and rallied to find the equalizer in the 80th minute as Cayla Koerner scored off an assist by Zoey Memmel. The visitors weren’t done offensively as the Memmel to Koerner connection again proved fruitful with the eventual game-winning goal in the 84th minute while Mariah Mannino also chipped in an assist on the play. SEMO then added another insurance goal just 23 seconds later as Houston scored her first goal of the season off an assist by Navi Washington.
UT Martin will now turn its focus to next week’s OVC Soccer Championship with the first and second round being hosted by Morehead State before the semifinals and final will be contested at league champion Tennessee Tech in two weeks.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information