Raiders Fall to Austin Peay in Season Opener

Friday, August 17

Clarksville, Tenn.

7 PM

Middle Tennessee

0-1

Austin Peay

1-0

Middle Tennessee

Austin Peay

8/17/2018 9:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Play-by-Play Box Score

CLARKSVILLE – Middle Tennessee (0-1-0) had several good opportunities, but could never find the net as they fell 1-0 to the Austin Peay Governors (1-0-0) at Morgan Brothers Soccer Field on Friday night to open the 2018 season.

Box Score

Match Moments

8' - CHANCE (MT) Amber Hoot's first corner kick was deflected by a Governor to give Hoot another corner. She found Hannah Tillett in the box who volleyed it towards the net, but Austin Peay keeper Mary Parker Powell made the save to keep the game scoreless

21' - CHANCE (APSU) Morgan Drawdy collected a long pass just outside the box and worked around the MT defense to get off a shot, but the ball sailed high above the goal

27' - GOAL (APSU) MT's Sydney Chalcraft deflected a shot wide of the net and out of bounds to set up a Austin Peay corner. The corner rebounded off of a Blue Raider before Jennifer Smith found the net off a volley to give her side a 1-0 lead

29' - SAVE (MT) Goodwin Brown navigated past the Blue Raiders' defenders and got a shot off, but Chalcraft was there to make the save

54' - SAVE (APSU) After the Governors partially cleared an MT corner, Casey Riemer collected the rebound to take a strike from just outside the box, but Powell dove to make the stop

56' - CHANCE (MT) The Blue Raiders were awarded back-to-back corners. Hannah Tillett and Amber Whitley managed to get shots off of the corners, but neither were on goal

68' - SAVE (APSU) Tillett took a pass at midfield and made a few moves to get herself some space at the top of the box. She took a shot but it was deflected by Powell

68' - SAVE (APSU) Hoot took the rebound from Tillett's blocked shot and dribbled further into the box before taking a shot of her own, but Austin Peay's Powell managed to get in front of the shot

70' - SAVE (MT) Austin Peay took a breakaway down the sideline before trying a cross into the box, but Chalcraft stepped in front of the attacker to make the save

88' - CHANCE (MT) Gwen Breslin made a run down the sideline and put a good ball into the box, but Powell nabbed it before any Blue Raiders could get to it.

Coach's Comments

On the difference in the game

"Well we started off slow, but I think as the game progressed, we grew into the game. I think our finishing let us down tonight and that was ultimately the difference"

On the good form of younger players

"We've got to give them experience if we're gonna count on them. For us, the season's a journey. Of course, we want to win every game, but more importantly, we want to improve every game. I think those who watched this game know that the first half and the second half were two different games for us. I think if we had taken care of our opportunities in the second half, we would have ended up winning."

On the stronger second half

We have to take what we learned in the second half, put it into the first half of the Belmont game and get another strong second half. I think that if we can do that, we will take a great step towards starting off the season on a positive note."

On how he plans to prepare the team for their next game

"We're going to recover and understand that this is one game out of the whole season. It doesn't define who we are and we just have to continue to work and continue to improve."

Next Match

Middle Tennessee will play their home opener on Sunday, Aug. 19 when they host Belmont. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. from the Dean A. Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium and will be streamed on CUSA.TV.