With the Skyhawk soccer season almost two months in, the team is rolling and hoping to reclaim the streak they lost over the past weekend.
The team dropped their season opener at Arkansas State with a score of 0-2. Both of ASU’s goals came in the first half; ASU with a total of five shots attempted. UTM, on the other hand, had 19 shots attempted, but couldn’t place any in the net.
UTM highlighted a three- game winning streak, the middle of those being a 10-0 win over Jackson State University.
The next loss came when the Skyhawks faced off against SEC opponent and sister school UTK. In that game, UTM would also fall 0-2 with one of UTK’s goals coming in less than 10 minutes into the game. UTK had a grand total of 22 shot attempts, with UTM only attempting nine.
However, after the loss to UTK, the Skyhawk soccer team proceeded to win five games straight. The second game within that streak being against Union University, where the Skyhawks won 3-2. The Union game would also serve as the last non-conference game for UTM as the team began opening conference play Sept. 16 at Southeast Missouri. The team has had four OVC games so far, Southeast Missouri (1-0), Tennessee Tech (3-1), SIUE (3- 0) and Eastern Illinois (0-0).
Before Sept. 30, the Skyhawks were 3-0 in the conference, but when UTM traveled to meet the EIU Panthers, neither team could score a goal. UTM had 11 total shot attempts to EIU’s three, but EIU prevented the Skyhawks from adding to the Panthers losing record.
One reason the Skyhawks are having a much better season than the 2017 campaign could be because of the retention rate. Last season the team was a bit younger, but coming into the 2018 season the team had only lost one player, but had retained all 11 starters.By the end of 2017 the team’s record was 6-11-3, with a conference record of 4-5- 1, ranking sixth in the OVC. In the OVC tournament, UTM fell in the first round to a score of 2-1 at the hands of SIUE. By the record and statistics, it would appear that patience does indeed pay, as now the starters are virtually the same, but those starters are much more experienced.
The two leading scorers this season are senior Amy McGivern and sophomore Jaden Hildreth, who both have accumulated four goals thus far in the season. Six other Skyhawk players have amassed double-digit goals on the season as well; among those is Danae Kaldaridou (3), Skylor Keane (3) and Bella Roberts (3).
The keeper this season is either sophomore Erica Myers or senior Makenzie Crawford, with game time being split between them. By the numbers, Myers definitely has the starting spot and playing time as she has garnered 19 saves in almost 700 minutes of playing time. Crawford has three saves, but with less than half the time of her teammate with almost 300 minutes at keeper.
The Skyhawk soccer team will have two games in the upcoming days – Oct. 5 against the Murray State Racers and Oct. 7 against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. The first game will be at the Skyhawk Soccer Field, where the Racers will come in with a record of 8-2-1, while the Skyhawks hope to improve their winning streak. JSU is currently 3-7-2 and on a two-game losing streak, but will face Belmont Oct. 5 before playing UTM.
With six games left in the regular season and the OVC championship tournament looming, the UTM soccer team will certainly look to finish the 2018 season strong.
