Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Tennessee Tech
Hargreaves Nets Three in Win Over Tennessee Tech
10/8/2010 7:10:47 PM | Women's Soccer
Junior Sophie Hargreaves scored the first Murray State hat trick in more than four years as the Racers shut out Tennessee Tech 3-0 in Ohio Valley Conference action Friday afternoon at Cutchin Field.
Hargreaves' first goal of the day came in the 11th minute when she took a pass from Kalli McCoy in the box and found the lower left hand corner of the net from around seven yards out.
Her second tally of the game came under three minutes later off a free kick from 25 yards out. Maja Nordahl passed it to the right where a charging Hargreaves shot a line drive into the right side of the net for the Racers' second and final goal of the first half. Before today's two first-half goals, MSU had just one goal in the first 45 minutes.
"Every player and coach knows that scoring in the first half gives you good momentum," head coach Beth Acreman said. "For us to keep the shutout going into halftime helped the girls and inspired them to push hard in the second half. Sophie Hargreaves had a fantastic game and Tara Isbell saved one off the line for us so as a group effort is was really good and we also had a couple of inspirational efforts from some of our key players."
Murray State (3-10-3, 2-2-1 OVC) continued to dominate the offensive pace in the second half, out-shooting Tennessee Tech 9-5 after halftime. The Racers' lone goal of the half came after a TTU foul in the penalty area. Hargreaves shot the ensuing penalty kick into the right side of the net for her third goal of the game, giving her the seventh hat trick in program history. She doubled her season scoring and now leads the team with six goals on the year.
Isbell made stops on all three shots on goal she faced to record her sixth shutout of the season.
"We really needed a win like this today," Acreman said. "Tennessee Tech played really well but I think our girls played inspired going into the latter half of OVC play this weekend, knowing how important these games are now. We know we have to keep playing hard if we want a good seed at the OVC Tournament. We've got three hard teams left and the girls will be training and preparing hard for those games.
Murray State returns to action on Oct. 17 at UT Martin before concluding regular season play the following week with a home match against Southeast Missouri Oct. 22 and a road contest Oct. 24 at Eastern Illinois.
