Story by Adam Redfern
Staff writer
Now that the first regular season with Head Coach Matt Lodge at the helm of Racer soccer is complete, the team will look to replicate last year’s postseason result by clinching the OVC title.
The Racers obtained the second seed in the OVC tournament this year and an automatic birth in the tournament semi-finals, and look to make the OVC Championship for the fourth time in four years.
Murray State worked for its second-place finish in the OVC with a record of 11-4-1. The Racers’ only losses came from the No. 5 seed in the SEC the University of Mississippi, a 2-1 loss to SIU-Edwardsville, a 3-1 loss to UT Martin, and a 1-0 loss to EKU.
Luckily for the Racers, all of the OVC teams to whom they lost are on the opposite side of the bracket, meaning the Racers would only play a team that beat them in the regular season in the OVC championship game.
On Friday, Nov. 2, Murray State will play against Eastern Illinois, a team that finished 6-7-6 in the regular season. Don’t let its average record fool you, this EIU team has played well against the same teams that bested Murray State.
EIU drew against UT Martin and Eastern Kentucky. The Panthers also beat SIUE 1-0.
The Racers have been bit by an injury bug as of late and Lodge is looking to use this week off to help get his team back to 100 percent.
“We want to get rested up, and there is still a few people we want back for conference time,” Lodge said. “It’s hard to prepare for a team we don’t know who they are. For this first week we are going to prepare like we do for every game.”
The Racers will meet EIU at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, in Martin, Tennessee.
