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Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics
Building A Powerhouse: Groves & Lodge Find Right Formula At MSU
11/1/2017 8:37:00 AM | Women's Soccer
For a program that's been around for 18Â years and has seen just three head coaches, you could say the Racers have entered a golden age of Murray State soccer under Jeremy Groves and Matt Lodge. It's been an exciting time for Murray State, winning three Ohio Valley Conference regular season titles, a OVC Tournament title as well as an appearance in the NCAA tournament; Groves and Lodge have built a culture of success at Cutchin Field that doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon.
The Racers go for another OVC Tournament championship Friday when they host the semifinals at Cutchin Field.
Click here for the Murray State match preview as the Racers host Southeast Missouri in the second semifinal Friday at 2 p.m.
Click here to visit the OVC Soccer championship page for scores, live stats and video links, and the official tournament bracket.
Before The Murray State Years
Both Jeremy Groves and Matt Lodge hail from England, with Groves coming from Leeds and Lodge growing up in Doncaster. The two Englishmen were close without knowing it, as Leeds and Doncaster are just 30 minutes apart. They had never met until their time at the University of Kentucky, where Groves was a graduate assistant coach with the UK women's soccer team and Lodge was a freshman student-athlete on the UK men's team.
Groves had been playing for multiple clubs including his hometown club, Leeds United before venturing across the pond to play at Virginia Intermont and then Kentucky. With the Wildcats, he helped
lead them to two straight Mid-America Conference championships in 2003 and 2004.
"I came over and played at Virginia Intermont, an NAIA school, but I knew I wanted something bigger. I jumped at the opportunity to come to Kentucky to play and eventually got hooked on coaching soccer when I was a GA there," said Groves.
After his coaching stint at Kentucky, Groves got his first full-time coaching job in the OVC with Morehead State; where he was an assistant under head coach Warren Lipka, who himself was a former assistant coach at Kentucky. Groves was instrumental in recruiting top talent to Morehead State. The Eagles went 20-12-5 in Groves three seasons. Groves helped recruit 2013 OVC Offensive Player of the Year, Jade Flory and OVC Freshman of the Year, Angela Black. Under Lipka's guidance, Groves did his part to push the Eagles to win the OVC regular season championship in 2010. The Eagles won the OVC tournament in 2010 and also in 2013.
While Groves was at Morehead State, Lodge was putting together an impressive resume of his own on the pitch with the Kentucky Wildcats. In 2009, his rookie season in Lexington saw him earn Freshman All-America honors, a first in program history. In 2012 he captained Kentucky to their first NCAA appearance in nine years. Lodge was also
an outstanding all-around player and ended his career at Kentucky third in all-time in assists and third in game-winning goals. Like Groves, Lodge had stints with English professional and development teams, mainly with Rotherham United.
"I attended a combine in England where there was 40+ college coaches in attendance, and Kentucky was the school that snapped me up. I was recruited as a central midfielder but was quickly pushed higher up the field to help with attack. I had a great time playing at UK," said Lodge.
Building A Culture Of Excellence In Racer Soccer
When Groves became interested in the Murray State job, he saw a gem of a school and a program that could thrive.
"Having been in the OVC with Morehead State, I always had the thought that Murray State could have a championship program because they had in the past," Groves said. "We have a great school here at MSU. Cutchin Field is in the middle of campus and there are a lot of fans here that love soccer, I was extremely excited to get this job and I'm happy with what we've been able to accomplish."
Rebuilding under a new coaching staff takes time to recruit exceptional talent and install the pillars of the program. Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise when Groves' first season on the Racer bench in 2014 ended up being a big step in the right direction. The Racers had their first winning season since 2009 at 11-9 and they impressed in OVC play with a 7-3 record. The Racers fell to Groves' old team, Morehead State, in the first round of the OVC tournament.
"The 2014 squad was a balance of youth and experience," Lodge said. "We had a lot of kids who were already in the program. The team was talented but seemed to be in a slump and couldn't break out. We were able to grind it out and turned things around pretty quickly and we were all very pleased with that first season."
The goal for Groves and Lodge right from the start was to put Murray State on the map as a great soccer school; make it a competitive program that is in the mix for an OVC title every season and get to the NCAA tournament and win.
"We have high standards, and we won't let our kids go below that and they expect us to hold them to the standard. We are only as good as coaches as they are players. Our student-athletes deserve the credit, they've taken our direction to heart and they've produced results," said Groves.
The Racers' have developed a championship feel within the program. A great culture doesn't guarantee wins, but not having it likely means the wins won't come. The Racers' way, developed by the
coaches and student-athletes for four years is the glue that holds the team together.
"The biggest thing kids want is to be in a positive culture," commented Lodge. "And that is what we want for them. Our expectations are clear and our plan to reach them is too."
In their second season in 2015, Groves and Lodge had in place a tremendously talented squad. The Racers went 16-5 overall, setting a MSU record for wins in a season and they ran the table in going undefeated in the OVC. Their 10-0 mark was the first undefeated OVC champion. Early in the season, the Racers beat an SEC team for the first time with a win at Mississippi State.
The Racers hosted the OVC Tournament and won a pair of thrillers for the title over Morehead State and Southeast Missouri. Murray State was sent to Ole Miss for the program's second NCAA appearance, where they bowed out with a 1-0 defeat.
"The first season in 2014 gave us confidence, but we were disappointed in how it ended," Groves said. "We looked like we'd never been in a big game before when we faced Morehead State in the OVC tournament."The success of 2015 was set by the great spring we had. Beating Mississippi State to start the year was a big step for us as a program, and when we got to conference play, we just took off. I wasn't happy with the loss at Ole Miss. We looked shy and timid in the first half and you could tell we were taking an unknown step again."
"The 2015 squad was a special team," Lodge said. "Everyone was hungry to win, and win the right way by playing attractive soccer and working hard defensively. The whole squad had a refuse to lose mentality and was led by some very good seniors, including Taylor Stevens who we have on staff now. Winning the OVC was special that first time round. I had never won a ring as a player and here I am in my second season of college coaching and we had won two championships."
And now Groves and company have won another OVC ring in 2017 and have their minds set on winning the OVC Tournament Friday and Sunday this weekend in Murray.
In 2017, the Racers have four seniors who remain from the 2014 freshman class that joined Groves and Lodge. Along with fifth-year senior Lyssie Wright, Nyomi Devine, Aaron Lankster, Destiny White and Harriet Withers have been excellent leaders.
Their leadership has paid dividends for the Racers as they've now posted a three of OVC regular season titles, two solo and one shared. With the 2017 awards still to come this week, the Racers have posted six All-OVC First Team, four All-OVC Second Team and four All-OVC Newcomer Team honors. Harriet Withers is pushing for her third-straight OVC Offensive Player of the Year Award.
Those include All-OVC first team, second team and newcomer awards in the '14,'15 and '16 seasons. Harriet Withers has picked up the OVC Offensive Player of the Year award the past two seasons, while Groves was awarded Coach of the Year in 2015.
"Every recruiting class adds to the program, but I feel as if this recruiting class is one of our best. We've been able to recruit two to three years in advance, we've had time to find and watch these players and make sure they're what we want," Groves commented on recruiting the last three years.
"We tell our players that we're not just bringing them here to win games, but to make them better. You take Harriet Withers, her freshman year she was coming off the bench, and now she's one of the leading scorers in the nation." said Lodge.
Although growing in stature as a soccer destination, Murray hasn't been known for players transferring into in recent years. Perhaps the biggest name to transfer to MSUÂ in the past three years is Miyah Watford.
"It was huge to get Miyah, we recruited her from her club when she was in high school."Â Groves said. "We were disappointed in not getting her here from the start, but we're happy with how things have gone. Some people will moan and complain they didn't get a player, but we wished her good luck, and got another shot with her."
Breaking Records And Moving On Up
Murray State is seeing another strong year on the pitch ranked in the top 40 teams in the RPI. The Racers came out to a program best six game winning streak to start the season before falling to
Saint Louis.
Withers continues to rewrite the record book. With the postseason still to come, she is now the leader of career game-winning-goals (12), Single season game-winning-goals (6) career points (88), career goals (37) and is a goal away from tying the single season record for goals scored (13) as a Racer.
Along with that, Alex Stegierwald has begun her assent to the top of the record books as well. She is now second in Racers history in shutouts (16) and in wins (26). She has also moved into fourth for the most matches played in goal by a Racer (38) and is now three wins a way from tying the single season marks for wins (12).
It continues to be a strong year for Murray State on the pitch, with a record of 13-1-2 overall and a 31-game OVC regular season unbeaten streak that will be taken up again in 2018. It doesn't look like the Racers are going to be slowing down anytime soon.
Groves and his wife Melissa  have two sons, Aidan (5) and Jaxson (1) while Lodge and his wife Brooke welcomed their first child, Millie, into the family in March of 2017.
The Racers go for another OVC Tournament championship Friday when they host the semifinals at Cutchin Field.
Click here for the Murray State match preview as the Racers host Southeast Missouri in the second semifinal Friday at 2 p.m.
Click here to visit the OVC Soccer championship page for scores, live stats and video links, and the official tournament bracket.
Before The Murray State Years
Both Jeremy Groves and Matt Lodge hail from England, with Groves coming from Leeds and Lodge growing up in Doncaster. The two Englishmen were close without knowing it, as Leeds and Doncaster are just 30 minutes apart. They had never met until their time at the University of Kentucky, where Groves was a graduate assistant coach with the UK women's soccer team and Lodge was a freshman student-athlete on the UK men's team.
Groves had been playing for multiple clubs including his hometown club, Leeds United before venturing across the pond to play at Virginia Intermont and then Kentucky. With the Wildcats, he helped
lead them to two straight Mid-America Conference championships in 2003 and 2004."I came over and played at Virginia Intermont, an NAIA school, but I knew I wanted something bigger. I jumped at the opportunity to come to Kentucky to play and eventually got hooked on coaching soccer when I was a GA there," said Groves.
After his coaching stint at Kentucky, Groves got his first full-time coaching job in the OVC with Morehead State; where he was an assistant under head coach Warren Lipka, who himself was a former assistant coach at Kentucky. Groves was instrumental in recruiting top talent to Morehead State. The Eagles went 20-12-5 in Groves three seasons. Groves helped recruit 2013 OVC Offensive Player of the Year, Jade Flory and OVC Freshman of the Year, Angela Black. Under Lipka's guidance, Groves did his part to push the Eagles to win the OVC regular season championship in 2010. The Eagles won the OVC tournament in 2010 and also in 2013.
While Groves was at Morehead State, Lodge was putting together an impressive resume of his own on the pitch with the Kentucky Wildcats. In 2009, his rookie season in Lexington saw him earn Freshman All-America honors, a first in program history. In 2012 he captained Kentucky to their first NCAA appearance in nine years. Lodge was also
an outstanding all-around player and ended his career at Kentucky third in all-time in assists and third in game-winning goals. Like Groves, Lodge had stints with English professional and development teams, mainly with Rotherham United."I attended a combine in England where there was 40+ college coaches in attendance, and Kentucky was the school that snapped me up. I was recruited as a central midfielder but was quickly pushed higher up the field to help with attack. I had a great time playing at UK," said Lodge.
Building A Culture Of Excellence In Racer Soccer
When Groves became interested in the Murray State job, he saw a gem of a school and a program that could thrive.
"Having been in the OVC with Morehead State, I always had the thought that Murray State could have a championship program because they had in the past," Groves said. "We have a great school here at MSU. Cutchin Field is in the middle of campus and there are a lot of fans here that love soccer, I was extremely excited to get this job and I'm happy with what we've been able to accomplish."
Rebuilding under a new coaching staff takes time to recruit exceptional talent and install the pillars of the program. Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise when Groves' first season on the Racer bench in 2014 ended up being a big step in the right direction. The Racers had their first winning season since 2009 at 11-9 and they impressed in OVC play with a 7-3 record. The Racers fell to Groves' old team, Morehead State, in the first round of the OVC tournament.
"The 2014 squad was a balance of youth and experience," Lodge said. "We had a lot of kids who were already in the program. The team was talented but seemed to be in a slump and couldn't break out. We were able to grind it out and turned things around pretty quickly and we were all very pleased with that first season."
The goal for Groves and Lodge right from the start was to put Murray State on the map as a great soccer school; make it a competitive program that is in the mix for an OVC title every season and get to the NCAA tournament and win.
"We have high standards, and we won't let our kids go below that and they expect us to hold them to the standard. We are only as good as coaches as they are players. Our student-athletes deserve the credit, they've taken our direction to heart and they've produced results," said Groves.
The Racers' have developed a championship feel within the program. A great culture doesn't guarantee wins, but not having it likely means the wins won't come. The Racers' way, developed by the
coaches and student-athletes for four years is the glue that holds the team together."The biggest thing kids want is to be in a positive culture," commented Lodge. "And that is what we want for them. Our expectations are clear and our plan to reach them is too."
In their second season in 2015, Groves and Lodge had in place a tremendously talented squad. The Racers went 16-5 overall, setting a MSU record for wins in a season and they ran the table in going undefeated in the OVC. Their 10-0 mark was the first undefeated OVC champion. Early in the season, the Racers beat an SEC team for the first time with a win at Mississippi State.
The Racers hosted the OVC Tournament and won a pair of thrillers for the title over Morehead State and Southeast Missouri. Murray State was sent to Ole Miss for the program's second NCAA appearance, where they bowed out with a 1-0 defeat.
"The first season in 2014 gave us confidence, but we were disappointed in how it ended," Groves said. "We looked like we'd never been in a big game before when we faced Morehead State in the OVC tournament."The success of 2015 was set by the great spring we had. Beating Mississippi State to start the year was a big step for us as a program, and when we got to conference play, we just took off. I wasn't happy with the loss at Ole Miss. We looked shy and timid in the first half and you could tell we were taking an unknown step again."
"The 2015 squad was a special team," Lodge said. "Everyone was hungry to win, and win the right way by playing attractive soccer and working hard defensively. The whole squad had a refuse to lose mentality and was led by some very good seniors, including Taylor Stevens who we have on staff now. Winning the OVC was special that first time round. I had never won a ring as a player and here I am in my second season of college coaching and we had won two championships."
And now Groves and company have won another OVC ring in 2017 and have their minds set on winning the OVC Tournament Friday and Sunday this weekend in Murray.
In 2017, the Racers have four seniors who remain from the 2014 freshman class that joined Groves and Lodge. Along with fifth-year senior Lyssie Wright, Nyomi Devine, Aaron Lankster, Destiny White and Harriet Withers have been excellent leaders.
Their leadership has paid dividends for the Racers as they've now posted a three of OVC regular season titles, two solo and one shared. With the 2017 awards still to come this week, the Racers have posted six All-OVC First Team, four All-OVC Second Team and four All-OVC Newcomer Team honors. Harriet Withers is pushing for her third-straight OVC Offensive Player of the Year Award.
Those include All-OVC first team, second team and newcomer awards in the '14,'15 and '16 seasons. Harriet Withers has picked up the OVC Offensive Player of the Year award the past two seasons, while Groves was awarded Coach of the Year in 2015.
"Every recruiting class adds to the program, but I feel as if this recruiting class is one of our best. We've been able to recruit two to three years in advance, we've had time to find and watch these players and make sure they're what we want," Groves commented on recruiting the last three years.
"We tell our players that we're not just bringing them here to win games, but to make them better. You take Harriet Withers, her freshman year she was coming off the bench, and now she's one of the leading scorers in the nation." said Lodge.
Although growing in stature as a soccer destination, Murray hasn't been known for players transferring into in recent years. Perhaps the biggest name to transfer to MSUÂ in the past three years is Miyah Watford.
"It was huge to get Miyah, we recruited her from her club when she was in high school."Â Groves said. "We were disappointed in not getting her here from the start, but we're happy with how things have gone. Some people will moan and complain they didn't get a player, but we wished her good luck, and got another shot with her."
Breaking Records And Moving On Up
Murray State is seeing another strong year on the pitch ranked in the top 40 teams in the RPI. The Racers came out to a program best six game winning streak to start the season before falling to
Saint Louis.Withers continues to rewrite the record book. With the postseason still to come, she is now the leader of career game-winning-goals (12), Single season game-winning-goals (6) career points (88), career goals (37) and is a goal away from tying the single season record for goals scored (13) as a Racer.
Along with that, Alex Stegierwald has begun her assent to the top of the record books as well. She is now second in Racers history in shutouts (16) and in wins (26). She has also moved into fourth for the most matches played in goal by a Racer (38) and is now three wins a way from tying the single season marks for wins (12).
It continues to be a strong year for Murray State on the pitch, with a record of 13-1-2 overall and a 31-game OVC regular season unbeaten streak that will be taken up again in 2018. It doesn't look like the Racers are going to be slowing down anytime soon.
Groves and his wife Melissa  have two sons, Aidan (5) and Jaxson (1) while Lodge and his wife Brooke welcomed their first child, Millie, into the family in March of 2017.
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