UTM welcomes OVC soccer tournament

With their win against Southeast Missouri on Friday, Nov. 1, the Skyhawks clinched the top seed and the right to host the event for the second straight season.

Morehead State claimed the second seed and also received a first round bye.

In last year’s tournament, the Skyhawks defeated Southeast Missouri in the semi-final round before defeating Austin Peay in the championship round. This year, if the Redhawks want to have another chance of taking out the Skyhawks, they will have to hope both teams make it to the final round.

The first round will be held Thursday, Nov. 7. In game one, which will be played at 4 p.m., the No.4 seed, SIU Edwardsville, will take on the No. 5 seed, Eastern Illinois. Then in game two, the No. 3 seed, Southeast Missouri, will challenge the No. 6 seed, Austin Peay, with the game time set for 7 p.m.

On Friday, UTM will play the winner of game one at 4 p.m., while Morehead State will play the winner of game two at 7 p.m.

The teams will have Saturday off and then on Sunday will compete in the OVC Championship at 1 p.m.

The Skyhawks have totaled 23 goals on 310 attempts this season. Senior Abi Sanvee leads the team with five goals, four of which were game-winning, including the game winner against Southeast Missouri. Alyssa Curtis is second on the team with four goals on 42 shots. Keeper Mariah Klenke has totaled 84 saves in the 16 games she has played this season.

UTM head coach Phil McNamara credits a lot of the team’s success to his group of seniors.

“They are arguably the most honored group of soccer players who have came through here,” said McNamara.

“They are classy individuals. Hannah McGowen has just been outstanding for this program. For Hannah Fessenden to come back and play this year, was the signing of the year and the cherry on the top. Sarah [Tompkins] has won games for us this year and has been our most consistent player off the bench. Jessica Horvatich has been a rock and provided a lot of pace for us this year. Of course [Sanvee] getting the goal on senior night is great for her experience at UTM. I couldn’t be prouder of this group of seniors.”

All of the games throughout the tournament will be broadcasted on OVC Digital Network free of charge. Live streams can be found at OVCDigitalNetwork.com.