Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Racers advance to semifinal round with 1-0 win over Southeast Missouri
11/2/2004 6:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
The game marked the first time that Murray State (8-10-1) has ever hosted a post-season contest in its five-year history, and for the third time in as many OVC Tournament appearances, the Racers will play in the semifinal round. MSU will take on No. 2 Eastern Illinois (11-5-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Samford's Bulldog Field in Birmingham, Ala. The championship game will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The goal came fresh off the opening kick of the second half, as a fast Racer offense blew down the field, led by senior forward Theresa Reedy and senior midfielder Jamie Roche. Roche took a pass into the box and took a shot, only to have it deflected by SEMO goalkeeper Amanda Wrzos.
The ball came off of Wrzos's hands into an open area in the box, and sophomore forward Lacey Ford rushed in and kicked it home 17 seconds into the half.
The goal was the first career goal for Ford, a sophomore from Evansville, Ind.
However, the teams still had almost an entire half to play. Both teams fought hard, amassing 40 combined fouls in the game, with five yellow cards issued. Both teams battled in the trenches, with rain creating puddles and muddy areas, making it difficult for any player to get sure footing.
Reedy had a game-high six shots, while she and Roche had a game-high three shots on goal. Molli Beard led SEMO (8-10-1) with three shots, while three Otahkians had two shots on goal.
In goal, Annie Fortier (7-6-1) turned away nine saves in claiming her third shutout of the season. Her counterpart, Wrzos (10-6-1), turned away eight saves for SEMO.
"Our team adapted real, real well to the conditions," said MSU head coach Michael Minielli. "We knew we just had to keep plugging and plugging.
"SEMO has had problems scoring a lot of goals this year, and I thought that if we had two goals today, we'd probably win. We got the one goal so early in the second half, though, I knew we had to really hold on for 45 more minutes, and that favored their offense, to get more opportunities."
The tape-delayed broadcast of this game can be seen locally on MSU TV-11 tonight (Tuesday) at 10 p.m.
