Featured photo by Jacob Burgess
Story by Jacob Burgess
Murfreesboro, TENN – Middle Tennessee Soccer (5-9-3) saw its season come to an end Friday night with a 2-0 win over FIU (8-4-4) on senior night at Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium.
The Blue Raiders celebrated senior night for Ellenor Gough, Jackie Riley, and Lauren Spaanstra. The team also celebrated grad students Kaitlyn Butcher, Cambell Kivisto, Caroline Manley, Elizabeth Slavinsky and Hannah Suder.
In the first half, MTSU started slow as it had to deal with an extreme press by FIU. FIU had three attackers pressing every ball held by the MTSU defense. Center backs Manley and Butcher dealt with this pressure well by dribbling up the field.
MTSU had few scoring chances in the first half but was able to capitalize and score one goal late in the half.
Spaanstra played a long ball from the right side of half field into a crossing Gough who was running across the top of the box. Gough brought the ball down and laid the ball off for Manon Lebargy who only needed one touch to shoot a rocket to the top right of the goal.
The second half only got better for MTSU as it got another goal when Idun Kvaale received a ball through traffic, took a look around a diving FIU goalkeeper, and slotted the ball home.
At the final whistle, the crowd roared and the celebrations for seniors began. Emotions were high for the players and coaches as it was the team’s last time on the field together.
“It’s been fantastic,” MTSU head coach Aston Rhoden said.” You know all of them are fantastic ambassadors for not just our team but for our program. Now there are certainly going to be kids we miss a lot of things about not just their soccer. But you know their heart, their passion, their leadership, the pride that they have for the program and the university.”
Jacob Burgess is a sports reporter for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
