Golden Eagles welcome Little Rock to town for Sunday’s 2025 OVC opener
The Tennessee Tech soccer team will take its first step in the road to defending its Ohio Valley Conference regular-season three-peat as the Golden Eagles will host Little Rock in Sunday’s league opener.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
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Team Stats
Little Rock
| Game Statistics | Little Rock | Tennessee Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Shots (on goal) | 22 (4) | 14 (7) |
| Saves | 6 | 3 |
| Fouls | 11 | 6 |
| Corner Kicks | 7 | 5 |
| Offsides | 0 | 3 |
By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Athletics Media Relations
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team will take its first step in the road to defending its Ohio Valley Conference regular-season three-peat as the Golden Eagles will host Little Rock in Sunday's league opener. The first of nine conference contests is set to get underway at 1 p.m. CT.
Admission to Tech Soccer Field is free of charge. The match will be livestreamed on ESPN+. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
The preseason No. 1 Golden Eagles head into the OVC opener following a 1-0 home defeat to North Alabama on Sunday to seal the deal on non-conference action. Scoreless with just over five minutes remaining, the Lions split the pipes to escape with the narrow nod. The loss was one of just two defeats over the last six matches for the purple and gold, with Tech picking up four draws during that stretch.
Natalie Howard leads the team with two goals and five points, accumulating both scores and all five points over the last four affairs. The sophomore forward is one of four Golden Eagles to find the back of the net, joining Tori Soutuyo, Ebba Melin and Allison Lee who have all put one home as well. Howard, Soutuyo, Melina Hamm, Claire Palya and Cheyenne McCloud have all tallied assists this season.
Tech (0-6-4) enters the start of league play having captured the last three outright OVC regular-season titles to become only the second program ever to accomplish the historical feat. Samford claimed four-consecutive outright crowns from 2003-06. Murray State won three-straight championships from 2015-17, but shared the title with EKU in 2016.
TTU's strong run dates back to the 2021 conference campaign with the purple and gold having lost only three of the last 32 OVC matches since the beginning of Oct., 2021. The Golden Eagles have a 21-3-8 conference record during that time period.
A look at Little Rock
Unbeaten in three of their last four, the Trojans (2-3-2) are coming off 3-3 home tie vs. Tulsa on Sunday to tie a ribbon on non-conference play. The draw with the Golden Hurricane is one of three matches this season in which Little Rock has found the back of the net at least three times. The Trojans knocked off Central Arkansas 3-2 on Aug. 21 and topped Arkansas-Pine Bluff 7-0 on Aug. 17.
LR has the top three goal-scorers in the OVC behind Maria Schuller's six scores and Amaya Arias and Maggie Turner's four goals apiece. Schuller, who split the pipes twice in the knot with Tulsa, is in the top 25 in the nation with those six scores and is also tied for 19th in the country with 15 points thanks to three assists as well.
Little Rock's 17 goals are the most in the OVC. Defensively, the Trojans have surrendered 15 scores in seven matches. Peyton Urban has started all seven affairs in net and has a 2.42 goals against average and a .651 save percentage. The Austin, Texas native was named the 2024 OVC Goalkeeper of the Year after setting the program record for shutouts in a singe season with 10 clean sheets.
Little Rock was selected preseason No. 3 in the OVC's predicted order of finish. The Trojans are coming off a 7-7-5 overall record last season with a 4-1-4 conference mark to finish in a tie for second place and earn the No. 2 seed in the OVC Tournament. The club was ultimately bounced by the eventual champion Lindenwood in the semifinals in Cookeville.
Inside the series
Sunday's conference opener will be the eighth meeting in the all-time series. The Trojans hold a 4-2-1 edge, which includes a 1-0 victory in last year's OVC opener in Little Rock on Sept. 22.
The Golden Eagles won the last two Cookeville gatherings, both in 2023 behind a 2-1 victory in the regular-season finale on Oct. 22 that clinched Tech's second-consecutive OVC regular-season championship before the purple and gold knocked off Little Rock once again with a 2-0 victory in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament on Nov. 2.
Photo: Jeff Bowe, TTU Media Relations
