Wright's Dash Brings Winner For MSU 2-1 Over IUPUI

Sunday, August 31

Cutchin Field

1:00 p.m.

Murray State

IUPUI

8/31/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Rachel Wright made an 80-yard scoring dash in the 58^th minute for the game-winning goal as the Murray State Women's Soccer team defeated the IUPUI Jaguars Sunday at Cutchin Field 2-1.

The win moved the Racers 2008 record to 2-2, while IUPUI fell to 1-2.

Wright's play began when she gathered the ball along the sideline in the Racers' end of the field. She dribbled around three IUPUI defenders as she crossed the mid-field stripe and continued past two more defenders at the top of the IUPUI penalty box. Her shot from about 15 yards out zipped into the upper left corner of the net to give the Racers a 2-1 lead.

MSU had to fight to hold off a furious push by the Jaguars in the final minutes of the match.

MSU Head Coach Beth Acreman is seeing the Racers' newcomers perform well.

“It has been nice to see our younger players develop into good collegiate players,” Acreman said. “We hope they'll continue to improve as the season goes on.”

MSU scored first in the 19^th minute when a pair of seniors hooked up. Rebekah Clay set up Melissa Curry just beyond the top of the box. Curry used her left foot and made a sliding kick that glanced off the cross bar and into the net for a 1-0 MSU lead.

The match stayed that way until IUPUI's Katrina McCrory scored on a rebounded corner kick in the 47^th minute.

The goals for Wright and Curry where their first of the season.

Tara Isbell picked up the win with 90 minutes in goal for MSU. She made two saves.

Acreman was also happy to see the Racers win both games this weekend to even their season mark at 2-2; the Racers also defeated Mississippi Valley State Friday 5-1.

“We're very pleased with what we accomplished this weekend,” Acreman said. “We scored some big goals and worked very hard in these two wins.”

“IUPUI came in here and tested us,” Acreman added. “They made a big push to try and tie the game in the final minutes and we were able to hang on.”

The Racers ended the day with a 15-8 shots advantage and a 6-3 lead in shots on goal.

Murray State's next action is when they host the Hampton Inn Classic Friday Sep. 5 and Sunday Sep. 7 at Cutchin Field. UT Martin, North Carolina-Asheville, and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville join the Racers in the weekend classic. The schedule calls for UTM and SIU-E to play at 2 p.m. Friday, followed by the Racers and UNCA 4:30 p.m.. Sunday's slate has UNCA against UTM at noon with the Racers taking on SIUE in the second game at 2:30 p.m.