Featured photo by Jacob Burgess
Story by Jacob Burgess
Murfreesboro, TENN- Middle Tennessee Soccer (4-8-2) welcomed UTEP (2-10-2) for a Thursday night game at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium that ended in a 1-1 tie.
Head coach Aston Rhoden set MTSU in a new formation in a 4-3-3, focusing on the offensive attack. This change brought MTSU more chances as it sent long balls down the field with as many as five players ready to attack. The new formation took time to play out as MTSU moved the ball down the field and once in the final third the play fizzled out with a bad touch or too hard of a pass.
“I think we did a much better job of maintaining possession of the ball and moving the ball around enough to create scoring chances, so I do like the progress we made in that,” Rhoden said. “We still need to finish our opportunities. I mean we create a lot of them, and we just aren’t as clinical or as ruthless in front of goal.”
Even though MTSU was having trouble in the final third, the pressure was building for the first goal and finally came in the 34th minute. Manon Lebargy sent in a deep ball for Taijah Fraser to run down the right side of the field. Fraser dragged her defender outside the penalty box leaving a giant gap where she crossed the ball back into for Eleanor Gough. Gough just needed one touch to place the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
The defensive line for MTSU held its ground for the rest of the first half and most of the second. Goalkeeper Hannah Suder, who has had a more commanding presence in the box the past two games, led the charge on defense.
The box score shows that Suder made three saves but does not show her charging off her line to take UTEP corners out of the air. Suder on her first save of the game parried the ball back into the middle of the field and quickly got back to her feet to pounce on the ball, right as a UTEP player went to strike the ball.
MTSU surrendered a goal in the 79th minute as back-to-back bad passes gave UTEP a scoring opportunity. After the bad passes, UTEP had a one-on-one with Suder, who just missed getting a hand to the shot.
“In critical moments is when we have been giving up goals, so it’s just a matter of still being patient and knowing that in time they’ll understand how critical these mistakes can be,” Rhoden said.
Jacob Burgess is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines and on X @MTSUSidelines.
