MOREHEAD | Morehead State Soccer will open its home season by hosting Detroit Mercy at 1 p.m. Sunday at MSU Soccer Field.
The Eagles finished 2023 with a 4-1-4 record on their home field, but went 1-1 at home during this fall’s tryout season. They currently have an 8-game undefeated streak in regular season games at MSU Soccer Field, including three wins in their last three games. In that final stretch, the Blue and Gold outscored their opponents 5-1.
“We’re excited to play at home for the first time this season,” said MSU head coach Paul Cox. “They’re a tough team that’s better than their record would suggest. They’ve brought in a number of players from the portal and are a well-organized and competitive team that will make it very difficult for us.”
MSU is coming off its first win of the season, a 2-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday. In the EKU game, Morehead State (1-1-1) showed its biggest offensive surge of the season, scoring the most goals since a 2-0 victory over SIUE in the 2023 regular-season finale.
Freshman striker Carlie Thurmond (two goals, four points, seven shots) has quickly established herself as a big-time scoring threat. She ranks second in the Ohio Valley Conference and 126th in Division I in goals per game (0.67). Thurmond is just the second Eagle to score two goals in three games in the last eight years and the first freshman to do so since Ashley Ritchie accomplished the feat in 2016.
All three of MSU’s goals this season have been scored by freshmen (junior midfielders Kennedy Baquero has the other).
However, the team’s returning players have also had a strong impact. Graduate defender and sophomore midfielder Mary Trudeau are the only Eagles to have played every minute of every game so far.
Experienced striker Erin Fitzgerald made her first regular season appearance against EKU and recorded two shots and an assist, moving one step closer to a place in the MSU career top 10 in the latter category. She is just two assists away from being tied for ninth place.
Goalkeeper in the first year Claire Cress Lohrer has joined to shore up the defense. She has a 1-1-1 record, a 1.07 goals-against average and 2.67 saves per game.
As a team, MSU is scoring 1.00 goals per game, has taken 31 shots, taken 10 corner kicks, committed 30 fouls and has been penalized for offside five times. Eagles opponents have scored 1.33 goals per game and have recorded 42 shots, 16 corner kicks, 24 fouls and 16 offside calls.
This fall, Detroit Mercy (0-3-0) is 0-2 on the road after suffering a 2-0 loss at Kentucky on Thursday. Including 2023, UDM has an eight-game losing streak on the road. The Titans are scoring 1.0 goals per game and averaging 4.7 shots per game, have taken five corner kicks, committed 43 fouls and have been flagged offside five times. Opponents are averaging 3.33 goals per game, 25.3 steals per game, 10.33 corner kicks per game, 11.67 fouls per game and 3.33 offsides per game.
Before Kentucky, the Titans lost 5-2 at home to Utah Valley and 3-1 in Bowling Green.
Three players each scored a goal: junior midfielder Abby Lodato, freshman midfielder Amelia Streberger and redshirt senior forward Justice Tillotson. The team’s lone assist came from defender Hailey Matthews, also a graduate student. Lodato leads the team with three shots, while Streberger has two goals.
Sophomore Marisa Silver and senior Chantelle Symes have split their time in goal exactly in half. Silver has a 4.67 shots on goal, a 0-2-0 record and has made 11 saves. Symes has a 2.00 shots on goal, a 0-1-0 record and has made five saves.
The two teams have only met once, last August in Detroit, and the Eagles won 5-2. It was MSU’s highest-scoring game of the season and the most goals in a game since a 5-3 win over Francis Marion in 2015.
On this latest excursion Kate Larbes scored two goals. Second grader Hedda Ornberg, Nicole Fiantaco And Colleen Swift scored the other Eagle goals. Fiantaco, Michelle Hochstadt, Sejla Podzic, Hadley Cytron And Natalie Ledin everyone had assists.
MSU led 3-2 at halftime and scored two more goals in the final period. UDM had the advantage in shots (17-15) and corners (7-4). The Eagles had eight saves and 12 fouls. The Titans had five saves and seven fouls. Detroit also received both offside decisions. A total of five cards were shown, including a red for the hosts.
Striker Erica Toupin scored an unassisted goal for UDM. MSU goalkeeper Erin Gibbs gave the Titans their second goal with an own goal. Eva Hill, a sophomore at Detroit Mercy, played the entire game as goalkeeper and took the loss.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3Xj2iyi. Fans can also follow the statistical game action via StatBroadcast at https://bit.ly/4730VGX.
There will also be a raffle for equipment for New Student Day.
MSU will play its next two games on the road, Thursday at Bellarmine and the following Thursday at Wright State. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. The Eagles’ next home game is Sunday, Sept. 8, against Northern Kentucky at 1 p.m.
