Racers Tie School Record With 5th Straight Win

Sunday, September 28

Cutchin Field

1 p.m.

Murray State

6-5, 2-0OVC

Jacksonville State

5-6, 1-1OVC

Jacksonville State

Murray St.

Photo by: Sam Sheffer

9/28/2014 4:38:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

The Murray State Racers tied the school record Sunday with their fifth consecutive victory in a 3-0 win in Ohio Valley Conference women's soccer at Cutchin Field in Murray, Kentucky.

Scoreless until the final minute of the first half, the Racers built on a 1-0 lead and carried it to their fifth-straight win, matching the team from 2005. MSU can break the record Friday when they play SIUE at Korte Stadium in Edwardsville, Illinois.

The game was close to being a scoreless first half when the Racers took advantage of a loose pass with under a minute to go. Aaron Lankster intercepted a pass outside the box and sent a pass to the back line where Pavilina Nepokojova sent a bullet shot across the mouth of the JSU goal. The ball ricocheted off a JSU player and into the net with 48-seconds before the buzzer.

In the early second half, MSU peppered the JSU goal with quality shots and twice hit the cross bar before Taylor Stevens gave MSU a 2-0 lead in the 56^th minute. MSU had a corner kick and Stevens settled a deflected ball in front of the net and blasted in her first goal of the season. Steven's second goal of the day was off another corner kick in the 69^th minute on a header. Nepokojova assisted on both goal as she initiated the corner kick.

Shelby Haworth recorded her third shutout in eight starts and improved to 5-3. She made five saves and early in the game stopped a point-blank attempt.

The Racers outshot JSU 14-9 on the day and had an 8-5 advantage in shots on goal.

MSU improved to 8-3-1 all-time against Jacksonville State and have won the last three meetings.

The Racers are 5-1 home this season and return home (Oct. 10 & 12) when they host Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

The Racers hit the road Friday to start a weekend swing to SIUE and SEMO. The Friday game at SIUE begins at 7 p.m. and the Sunday game at SEMO is a 1 p.m. start in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The Racers are 1-5-0 all-time vs SIUE and 6-10-0 against SEMO. MSU has lost the last two to SIUE and the last four to SEMO.

Match Notes
The Racers have won five straight with a win at Saint Louis and at home wins against IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State. MSU has matched what the 2005 squad did when they had wins at home against Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky and road wins at JSU, Samford and UT Martin.

MSU has outscored the opponent 13-2 in the winning streak.

MSU has back-to-back shutouts to start OVC play for the first time since 2008 when they won 1-0 at Southeast Missouri and 3-0 at Eastern Illinois. The Racers are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2009 when they won road games at JSU and TTU.

Taylor Stevens entered today's game with one goal in her MSU career, but ended the day with three. Her two goals today came in the 55^th minute and the 69^th.
Stevens joins Harriett Withers who has MSU's only other two-goal game this season against Georgia State (Aug. 29). Julie Mooney had a hat trick against IUPUI (Sept. 19).

Eight different players have scored this season for MSU.