By Brandon Burke, UT Martin Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – Returning to Skyhawk Field on Thursday night after a ten-day three-game road trip in non-conference action, the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team quenched the fans’ thirst for goals by toppling the North Alabama Lions by a sizable margin of 4-1. Accumulating a season-best shot total of 26 while holding UNA to a mere five tries at the net, UT Martin bumps up their overall record to 3-1-1 in the first of three straight home appearances as the second-half of the pre-Ohio Valley Conference schedule commenced.
Makayla Robinson, Jaden Hildreth, and Bella Roberts made up quite the impressive trio on Thursday, all hoisting their season goal tallies to two, with the latter becoming the second Skyhawk in as many games to secure a pair of successful strikes in the same outing. Coincidentally, forward Jill Hildreth accomplished that same feat in the team’s last appearance during Sunday’s victory over Indiana State, although Roberts recorded her two scores just barely over two minutes apart from one another.
Not letting the Lions come close to the attack across nearly the entire opening half, UTM torched North Alabama throughout the first 45 minutes, leading to a commanding 3-0 advantage at the break. Tacking on her 16th career strike at the 38:45 stamp, Hildreth’s solo score to put the Skyhawks on the board mirrored that of the senior’s other 2021 goal in her last home appearance against Southern Illinois nearly two weeks back.
The UNA defense responded well initially to the Skyhawks’ relentless pressure offensively, although the wheels fell off once Hildreth found a seam. Only one minute and 12 seconds after UTM broke through, Roberts received a perfect assist from midfielder Hendrikje Baurmann for her first goal of the season and the 11th of her five-year collegiate career. As it turns out, her 12th score was only 126 seconds away.
Sophomore Australian Kiarnie Latham rocketed the ball high over North Alabama keeper Payton Yates into the crosshairs of Roberts, who gently headed in her second consecutive goal to give the Skyhawks an insurmountable lead of three.
Not one to let up despite the sizable hole on the scoreboard, head coach Phil McNamara’s unit remained ultra-aggressive on the offensive end by seeking out 10 more shot attempts over the second stanza. Just as Jaden Hildreth repeated her score from home in the opener, so too did Robinson off a feed from Jaden’s twin sister Jill at the 50:06 mark to defiantly put the contest out of reach.
A concession score submitted by UNA’s Alice Bussey in the 77th minute wouldn’t make a dent in the Skyhawks’ confidence on Thursday, as eight different players managed at least one shot in the 4-1 drubbing which served as the first meeting between the two schools of the 21st century.
Needing only 45 minutes in the net behind 4 saves to ensure the team’s lead stayed at its jumbo size, graduate GK Erica Myers clinched her 33rd all-time victory in the team’s fifth match of the semester, whereas the rest of the Skyhawk defense continued to deliver on their lofty preseason expectations.
Entering the Thursday bout, UTM saw themselves tied with Morehead State for the lowest amount of goals given up across all of the OVC. After only surrendering one all game, the season total now sits at just three goals allowed, where the team has now reached that same figure in the win column.
There won’t be much time to celebrate the blowout, as the Skyhawks embark on a quick turnaround this Sunday for another non-conference affair. Boasting a nearly identical record to that of UT Martin, the Wright State Raiders will visit the Volunteer State for the first time ever at 1:00 p.m.
Following a 1-1 stalemate against Bellarmine and a 1-0 setback to Oklahoma State, WSU bounced back in a big way as the Skyhawks were dismantling North Alabama, taking down Akron via a 3-0 shutout. Marking only the third time the two schools have met during each other’s history, UTM will search for a clearer result than the last time out against the Raiders, a 2-2 tie in 2019.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information