Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Racers fall in OVC semifinals to defending champion EIU
11/5/2004 6:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
The Racers (8-10-1) faced the league's top-scoring team in Eastern Illinois (12-5-2), averaging 1.78 goals per game, and three first-half goals bolstered the Panthers into the championship game for the sixth straight season.
EIU's Trisha Walter put the Panthers on the scoreboard with back-to-back goals, the first coming in the 22nd minute on a pass from Morgan Frericks just 21:39 into the game. The second Walter goal came in the 31st minute on a header off of a pass from Michelle Steinhaus 30:18 into the game.
Steinhaus got the final goal of the first half when she popped a direct kick into the net from 25 yards out 37:32 into the game to give Eastern Illinois a 3-0 halftime score.
EIU outshot Murray State by a scant 6-4 margin in the first half, and each team had four shots on goal in the first 45 minutes.
The Panthers scored quickly in the second half, as Lynne Goehler took a pass from Audra Frericks off of a deflected corner kick into the net just 1:51 into the second half.
EIU had 15 shots in the game to MSU's seven, but the Panthers had eight shots on goal to the Racers' six.
Senior forward Theresa Reedy led Murray State with three shots and two on-goal, while Walter had a game-high four shots, and she and Steinhaus had two shots on goal.
In the net, sophomore Annie Fortier (7-7-1) turned away four saves in facing eight shots and played the entire 90 minutes in goal. For Eastern Illinois, Tiffany Groene (12-5-2) turned away four saves in 54:34 in goal, while Lindsay Dechert had two saves in 35:26 in the net.
Murray State ends its season with this loss, but set several benchmarks with this year. The four OVC wins is a school record, and Reedy tied a school single-season mark with 13 goals this season, placing herself atop the career goals list at 34.
The Racers began the season with a 1-5-0 record, but went 6-3-1 over its next 10 games to finish in third place in the OVC standings, tying an all-time best league finish. MSU bids farewell to six seniors: Reedy, Erin Blackman, Jill Hawanchak, Shauna Kline, Jamie Roche and Lauren McAdams. Hawanchak, Kline and McAdams are the last active players to have played on Murray State's inaugural team in 2000.
