From GoRacers.com, photo by Dave Winder...
The reigning Ohio Valley Conference women's soccer
regular season champions took the first step to repeating their success, as
Murray State (1-0) defeated Marshall (0-2) 2-0 on home turf at Cutchin Field in
Murray, Kentucky.
"I thought we played very well again today and continued what we have done in
preseason." MSU coach Jeremy Groves said. "We started the game well and created
some good chances. We wanted to up the tempo of the game in the second half and
I thought we did creating more chances. I was very impressed with our patience
up front, we kept plugging away and finally broke through. I was really pleased
with our defense- they played very good again. That's 3 clean sheets in a row."
The Racers controlled the pace of play, bringing the action to the Thundering
Herd for the majority of the game, with 21 total shots and 14 of those being on
target.
Two-time OVC Player of the Year Harriet Withers scored her first goal of the
season and the first for the Racers at the 51 minute mark, sending a dart to the
upper right corner of the goal to give Murray a 1-0 advantage.
Withers wasn't finished, as she received a through-ball from Karsyn Hasch in the
87th minute and beat the keeper as she walked the ball in, to push the Racer
lead to 2-0.
With the two goals in the match, Withers picked up her fourth brace of her
career, seeing one in each of her now four seasons.
Solid defense and goaltending complimented the strong offensive attack. The
Thundering Herd were only able to put three shots on Alex Steigerwald, who
picked up her first clean sheet of the year and the 12th of her career, tying
her with Karen Fitzharris for second most by a Racer all-time.
Murray State continues the season with a trip to Troy, Alabama as they face off
against the Trojans of Troy Sunday, August 25 at 5 p.m.