MARTIN, Tenn. – Impressive showings in every facet of the game highlighted a 3-1 season-opening victory for the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer squad against Arkansas State on Thursday evening.
The Skyhawks (1-0) used contributions from a wealth of players to lift the squad to a victory in their first match of the season. After being a part of the program for three seasons, redshirt-sophomore
Jill Hildreth made the most of her official Skyhawk debut, scoring goals in the 12th and 57th minutes to highlight a picturesque opener. While another goal by sophomore
Hendrikje Baurmann late in the contest sealed the deal, it was arguably the play of All-OVC junior goalkeeper
Erica Myers who stole the show.
Myers' 13 saves rank as the seventh-best performance in school history, as she becomes the first Skyhawk to make at least 13 saves in a match since 2010. Overall, UT Martin's 14 saves were the most in a match since the Skyhawks accumulated 14 stops against Colorado on Sept. 8, 2013. Additionally, tonight's 13 saves were a career-best performance for Myers, whose previous high in a single match was eight saves (accomplished four times as a freshman in 2017).
Offensively, the Skyhawks tallied 14 shots on the evening led by four from Hildreth. While Hildreth and Baurmann accumulated the team's scoring, the pair of
Alice Adams and
Nicole Collins also tallied individual points with an assist.
"I'm really happy," UT Martin head coach
Phil McNamara said. "We have absolutely struggled with Arkansas State over the past three or four years since Coach Dooley took over. I feel like we certainly had really good performances but just struggled to get the result. We emphasized today that we wanted to find a balance of possession and stats. I'm delighted especially for the young players who all came in and did extremely well by giving us the extra quality, fitness and speed to prevail in this game. We still have a lot of work still to do to get ready for the quality of play that we need to be at come conference play but it was a good start to the season."
Arkansas State would strike first in the season opener. After strong scoring opportunities early, the Red Wolves' Lindsey Brochu would serve a nice pass to Sarah Sodoma who placed the go-ahead score into the bottom right corner of the net in the 8th minute.
The lead would be short-lived however as the Skyhawks continued their offensive push. Their aggressiveness would prove valuable as Hildreth rifled a rebounded shot attempt past the vacant keeper in the 12th minute for her first career official collegiate goal after scoring a pair of goals in exhibition play.
The score would remain the same heading into halftime tied at 1-1. With both teams coming out of the break looking for the go-ahead score, the Skyhawks ultimately took control of the game in the 57th minute. The home team would make the most of impressive touches from Adams and Collins to set up Hildreth for her second goal of the contest to take a 2-1 advantage.
"I'm delighted for Jill to score two goals," McNamara commented. "She's a player that has had to be patient the last two years to earn playing time. She came in tonight, gave us good energy and great quality to score two goals."
With the lead in hand and looking for a little breathing room, Baurmann snuck past the ASU keeper to find a loose ball and scored her first career goal in the 81st minute to put the game out of reach.
UT Martin will return to action with a matchup against Little Rock on Sunday, Aug. 25. Action from Skyhawk Field is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m.