EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer opened its Ohio Valley Conference season with a 0-0 tie and a point against the University of Tennessee at Martin on Sunday at Strassweg Field.
With Sunday's nil-nil draw, USI Women's Soccer (1-7-4, 0-0-1 OVC) tied in its OVC opener for the fourth straight season. Plus, USI and UT Martin (2-4-6, 0-0-1 OVC) began the OVC slate with a scoreless tie for the second year in a row after the two sides opened the conference season last year with a 0-0 result in Martin, Tennessee.
Sunday's contest was a strong defensive and goalkeeping battle, despite USI outshooting UT Martin 15-9 overall and 6-3 in shots on goal. The Screaming Eagles' defense, which featured the return of junior defender
Ava Hess from injury, posted its fourth shutout of the season. Sophomore goalkeeper
Merrick Schwalbach snagged three saves in her fourth clean sheet of the season.
The Screaming Eagles came out with some early energy and pressure on the Skyhawks' defense. Junior forward
Josie Pochocki nearly put USI on top in the 16
th minute with a flick on goal off a cross, but UT Martin fifth-year senior goalkeeper Mac Titus punched it away in desperation at the goal line. Senior forward
Eva Boer, one of three Screaming Eagles to fire three shots on Sunday and the team leader with two shots on goal, had two first-half shots, but the game remained scoreless through the first 45 minutes.
With defense dictating the early tone of the match, it took a while for either side to find an opportunity in the second half. USI's first shot of the second stanza did not come until the 78
th minute. Then, the Screaming Eagles tallied nine shots in the final 12-plus minutes, including a threatening header at goal by sophomore defender
Anna Depenbrock in the 80
th minute that forced the Skyhawks' Titus to make another lunging save. Despite the barrage of shots down the stretch, USI could not break the 0-0 deadlock.
USI and UT Martin were the only OVC matchup on Sunday to end in a tie out of four OVC games, placing both teams right in the middle of the conference standings after the first weekend of conference play.
The Screaming Eagles return to action on the road next Sunday, October 4, in Ohio Valley Conference play, traveling to Southeast Missouri State University for a 1 p.m. kickoff in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
