By Brandon Burke, UT Martin Sports Information
MARTIN, Tenn. – In a tightly-contested defensive slugfest between the top two teams in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, a punishing late-game miscue proved to be the downfall for the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team against the Belmont Bruins, dropping a 1-0 decision in the penultimate meeting of the 2021 campaign on Thursday evening.
On a night where goalkeeper Erica Myers, defender Kamryn Chappell, and midfielders Hendrikje Baurmann and Skylar Boes were honored in a pregame ceremony for their tremendous contributions to the Skyhawk program, the visitors from Nashville ultimately spoiled the Senior Night festivities thanks to the game-clinching one-on-one strike from Maci Pekmezian with 25 minutes left in regulation.
Both teams utilized their defensive obstinacy throughout the intense in-state duel, and while it seemed as if a stalemate would be the final conclusion for the majority of the match, a defensive handball penalty against the Skyhawks immediately dispelled such speculation, in turn sliding UTM to 9-5-1 overall next to a 5-2 conference mark.
Thanks to Belmont’s silencer and SIUE’s 3-1 triumph over Southeast Missouri, UT Martin will venture to Morehead State on Sunday in the midst of a three-way tie with the Bruins and Cougars on the final afternoon of the 2021 season.
If looking at Thursday’s box score purely from a statistical point of view, the Skyhawks held the clear advantage when attacking offensively behind an 11-4 difference in shot attempts leaned in their favor. However, an untimely bounce from a short distance away from the post signaled the handball whistle from the nearby official, thus granting the Bruins a penalty kick try that was promptly converted by Pekmezian in the bottom right corner of the net.
UTM was blanked on the scoreboard for only the second time this semester when competing on their home field, giving up their 15th goal in as many meetings, still a terrific number for a team on the brink of capturing the school’s fifth OVC regular season crown. If the Skyhawks are looking to claim that prize all by themselves, however, they’ll have to hope for a win over the Eagles on Sunday and a tie between Belmont and SIUE who will coincidentally battle each other on the same afternoon.
Despite a 10-2 discrepancy in corner kick opportunities, the Skyhawks were never able to carve through a stingy Belmont defense, who had nearly equaled the navy and orange in terms of reputation all fall. Once the visitors suddenly grabbed the 1-0 lead, a pair of near-tiebreaking attempts from Emma Elliott and Jill Hildreth five minutes apart from each other left the home squad with their third defeat in their own backyard in eight appearances.
Hildreth, Izzy Patterson, and Brooke Kala combined for seven of UTM’s 11 shots in the tough loss, while Myers was able to deter half of the attempts that came her way. In the end, Pekmezian’s nerve-wracking make was all that stood between a Skyhawk win and potential overtime play, as no Belmont performers were able to register more than a single shot.
Head Coach Phil McNamara’s unit can still salvage at least a share of the league’s regular season title with a victory over Morehead State in 72 hours, touring a team that will have seen an entire week of rest following a scoreless tie against SEMO in their last outing. MSU heads into the 2021 finale at 4-8-4 collectively beside an OVC trek of 2-3-2.
In the lead across the all-time series history with the Eagles at 15-11-2, the Skyhawks will search for a bit of payback from their 1-0 loss to Morehead in March – which also took place in the Bluegrass State – as UTM had won the previous two meetings.
First touch on Sunday is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and will be streamed live via ESPN+ on what will be an extremely important day for the three teams intertwined with each other at the top of the conference standings, the Skyhawks among them.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information