MARTIN, Tenn.– In a back-and-forth match, the University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team put forth a valiant effort but fell 3-2 to Missouri Valley Conference foe Northern Iowa at Skyhawk Field this afternoon.
UT Martin (1-4-2) had scores from Izzy Patterson (match-high five shots, two shots on goal, one assist) and Makayla Robinson (three shots, two shots on goal), who both knocked in their second goals of the season. Parker Gelinas (three shots, two on goal), Peyton Cook (three shots, one on goal), Brooke Kala (two shots), Unni Wolf (assist) and Shayla Addington (assist) also led the Skyhawk offense put pressure on the Northern Iowa back line. Overall, UT Martin fired 16 shot attempts (seven on goal) today.
Skyhawk goalkeeper Mac Titus made six stops against 17 Panther shots while Wolf, Addington, Gelinas and Kala played the full match.
Northern Iowa (5-1-1) started the scoring in the first half with goals in the 13th and 17th minute. However, UT Martin would get a response from Patterson, who spun around for a nifty goal amongst traffic to slice the Skyhawk deficit in half at 2-1.
The Panthers answered with a score in the 39th minute to carry a 3-1 advantage into halftime.
A motivated UT Martin squad would come out of halftime firing. Patterson put a lengthy pass on a dime for a picture-perfect goal by a streaking Robinson in the 53rd minute to make the score 3-2.
Titus made sure the score remained at 3-2 with three more saves the rest of the way. The Skyhawks would have scoring chances with shots on goal in the 58th, 72nd, 78th and 85th minute but Northern Iowa would turn away those opportunities.
“That was a disappointing start to the match for us,” UT Martin head coach Mike Varga said. “We’ve been a pretty disciplined defensive team this fall and I felt like the first half was a step back for us. Fortunately, we responded with a much better second half. We put Northern Iowa on their heels but unfortunately the first half as a whole was a bit too much to dig out from.”
The Skyhawks begin a lengthy road stretch with a match at Evansville on Thursday, Sept. 12. First touch is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
