Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s soccer team was handed not only its first home loss of the 2013 season, October 13th at Morgan Brothers Field on Senior Day, but also its first Ohio Valley Conference loss, with SIU Edwardsville scoring a late goal to come away with a 1-0 victory over the Lady Govs.
With the loss, Austin Peay (9-2-2, 4-1-1 OVC) dropped into second place in the overall OVC standings behind Eastern Illinois University (5-1-0 OVC) – who they defeated on October 11th, 3-0.“I thought it was a pretty much a back-and-fourth match,” Austin Peay coach Kelley Guth said. “But we didn’t play our best soccer today.
“It just comes down to execution. I thought we had a number of chances that could have resulted in goals, but we didn’t put them away and gave up opportunities that put us under some pressure and they were able to capitalize on it and put a ball away.”
The lone goal of the match came in the 74th minute for the Cougars, with Tory Pitts getting a free kick – following a foul by Austin Peay.
That was touched to Christine Martinez by Kourtney Price, with Martinez knocking it just inside the left post and into the back of the net past a diving stop attempt by Austin Peay keeper Nikki Filippone.
Sophomore Courtney Sheppard forced a save from Cougars keeper Jennifer Pelley in the 88th minute, one of only two Lady Gov shot attempts in the second half and the only one coming after SIU Edwardsville had taken the lead.
“They are pretty organized and they get numbers behind the ball,” Guth said. “So we have to be more patient in how we possess and how we try build up and break them down.
“When you’re faced with moving the ball forward and you’re dealing with eight or nine players behind the ball they tighten space up and you have to be able to move the ball and create space. They did a good job in that area of the game and we didn’t do a good job of being composed and keeping the ball on the ground and moving it and play possession like I know we’re capable of.”
In the first half, it looked like Austin Peay had taken a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute when senior Andy Quiceno headed in a cross from her sister Joceline, but the goal was waved off for offsides keeping the match scoreless.
Overall, the high scoring Lady Govs offense was limited to six shots overall – four on goal – while SIUE got 11 shots off, with four on goal.
The shutout loss also ended several streaks for the Lady Govs, with it being the first loss at home since September 23rd, 2012, the first regular-season OVC loss since September 28th, 2012 and the first shutout in OVC regular-season play since October 14th, 2012.
Austin Peay returns to action October 18th, 7:00pm, as it closes out its home regular-season slate against Morehead State University.
“We as a team need to revisit some things and get refocused and come out and play better next weekend,” Guth said. “It doesn’t get any easier because all of these games matter so much and each is important.”