The UTM soccer team went on the road and picked up a 2-0 victory at Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) foe Austin Peay on Tuesday afternoon to earn three points and remain in the OVC Soccer Championship hunt.
The Skyhawks improved to 4-3-1 on the season with the victory while picking up three points to leap into fourth place in the conference standings. With just two matches to play, UTM controls its own destiny as only the top four teams make the OVC Soccer Championship field.
UTM picked up its fourth win of the season behind a dominating performance over Austin Peay on its home field. The Skyhawks posted their fourth shutout this season while lowering their season goals against average to just 0.71. Defensively, the Skyhawks allowed the Governors to attempt just one shot in the contest and zero on goal.
Goalkeeper Erica Myers earned her 28th career victory and 17th career shutout in the contest.
On the offensive side, the Skyhawks attempted nine shots on the afternoon led by four from Emely van der Vliet. The freshman forward tallied two shots on goal while recording a goal in her second straight contests and the third time this season. Junior Jill Hildreth also scored on the afternoon – tallying her first goal of the season and ninth of her career. Jill’s twin sister Jaden Hildreth joined in the scoring action by notching an assist on van der Vliet’s late goal.
After holding Austin Peay without a shot in the entire first half, UTM focused on its offensive effort in the second half to pull out the road victory. Just a few minutes out of the break, the Skyhawks broke through for their first goal as Jill Hildreth found separation from her defender and rifled a shot attempt from 20 yards out to the top left corner of the net for her first goal of the season.
The Skyhawks looked for some additional padding late in the contest as Jaden Hildreth found a streaking van der Vliet who beat the goalkeeper Chloe Dion one-on-one to score from 15 yards out for her third goal of the season.
UTM will return home for its final two contests of the regular season with sights on a tournament berth. The Skyhawks will host Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Apr. 2 with action scheduled to get underway at 6 p.m.
