Story by Quenterious Mabone / Contributing Writer
The Blue Raider women’s soccer team looked to wrap up their four-game homestand on a positive note, but their late push fell just short to the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on Friday.
The Blue Raiders trailed 1-0 in the first half, but the Buccaneers continued their run by scoring a crucial goal to go up 2-0. Looking to respond, the Blue Raiders finally got on the board late in the second half, trailing 2-1. Despite multiple opportunities to score over the final 10 minutes of play, the Blue Raiders ran out of time, handing them their third loss of the season.
“We got to do a better job of keeping the ball, maintaining our composure,” said Middle Tennessee Head Coach Aston Rhoden. “I think that the second half was a more physical game. We stood our ground, and we had a lot of fouls that we received and probably should have done better with as far as free kicks and such that we need to improve on.”
The Buccaneers and Blue Raiders battled back-and-forth through the early parts of the game, keeping the game scoreless halfway through the opening frame. At the 43:23-mark, Buccaneer Kyra Ranvek scored a goal off an assist from her fellow teammates Taylor Limprevil and Lindsey Cook to put the Buccaneers up 1-0 heading into halftime.
In the second half, the Blue Raiders attempted six shots but none of them would go in the goal, leading to the Buccaneer Kyra Ranvek scoring her second goal of the night off an assist from Momoko Horiuchi to take a commanding 2-0 lead at the 65-minute mark. The Blue Raiders finally got a spark at the 78-minute mark from senior Peyton DePriest, who drew a foul in the penalty box to earn a penalty kick attempt that connected to put the scoreboard at 2-1.
The goal from DePriest, fresh off her record setting performance on Sunday, made it her 51st career goal for the C-USA all-time leader, but the celebration didn’t end the way she was
hoping for. Despite a late push to tie the game up, the Blue Raiders fell just short to the Buccaneers, putting their record at (3-3-1).
The Blue Raiders head to Nashville for a matchup against the reigning SEC champion, Vanderbilt Commodores, for a Music City matchup at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Vanderbilt Soccer/Lacrosse Complex.
