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HomeSportsFinal regular-season weekend demands results from Austin Peay Lady Govs Soccer

Final regular-season weekend demands results from Austin Peay Lady Govs Soccer

APSU Sports Information: APSU Soccer

Austin Peay State University Lady GovsClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University women’s soccer team hits the road for a 3:00pm, Friday contest at Eastern Kentucky, before the season-finale, noon, Sunday at Morehead State.

The Lady Govs are one of several Ohio Valley Conference teams competing for a postseason bid in the league’s final weekend. Depending on how things play out, Austin Peay could finish as high as second place or miss the tournament all together.

APSU Soccer. (Courtesy: Cidnie Sydney-Brewington/APSU
APSU Soccer. (Courtesy: Cidnie Sydney-Brewington/APSU

Southeast Missouri – the league leader – is the only team locked into the tournament at this point. Eastern Kentucky is second with 13 points, followed by Eastern Illinois (12) and Murray State (11), while Austin Peay and UT Martin are tied with 10 each.

“We all know it’s going to be a battle, as it always is in conference play,” Lady Govs head coach Kelley Guth said. “Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State are always tough, physical matches. We have to go in ready to play 90 minutes and try and come out with two wins.”

Haylee ShoaffAustin Peay is one of the league’s biggest movers after sweeping OVC wins from Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville, last weekend. Those win came despite being severely short on numbers and playing with only one substitution. Sophomore keeper Haylee Shoaff was rewarded for her play in net by being named the OVC Keeper of the Week, Tuesday. Shoaff had 10 saves in recording back-to-back shutouts for the first time in her career.

“It was great to see Haylee get that recognition,” Guth said. “She’s battled all year and earned the right to start in net. She played really well last week in a clutch situation. This will only build her confidence heading into the final weekend.”

Tatiana ArizaAs the conference season has progressed, Guth has had to find creative ways to involve sophomore Tatiana Ariza. The 2010 OVC Freshman of the Year leads the OVC with 15 goals, six more than second place. However, OVC defenses have keyed in on the dynamic scorer which made her overtime gamewinner against Eastern Illinois even more impressive.

With Tatiana under tight surviellence, the Lady Govs have found offensive help from her sister Natalia Ariza, as well as juniors Emily Perkins and Jocelyn Murdoch.

Natalia ArizaNatalia actually leads the Lady Govs with 23 shots in OVC action, trailed by Tatiana with 21 and sophomore defender/midfielder Emily Kink with 15. Being able to provide a number of weapons makes the Lady Govs more dangerous in the attacking third.

“It’s no secret what kind of player Tatiana is,” Guth said. “We’ve been doing some different things with her and had some players step up. We’ve got to improve our ability to finish when we get in there. I feel like we had some opportunities we didn’t capitalize on over the past few games.”

Emily PerkinsEastern Kentucky (5-10-2; 4-2-1 OVC) is anchored by a veteran defense that has not allowed a multi-goal effort by an opponent since early September. The Colonels have OVC wins against Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin and Eastern Illinois.

Morehead State, the defending regular-season and tournament champions, have not seen the same success this season. While the Eagles handed Southeast Missouri it’s only OVC loss, they have struggled to find the back of the net in their last three conference games. Morehead State host Murray State, Friday.

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