The Austin Peay women’s soccer team had reason to celebrate Thursday night despite their 1-1 draw against Tennessee Tech.
Midfielder Alec Baumgardt snagged the Governors’ first Ohio Valley Conference goal of the season against the league’s second-best team.
“I’ve been working on that specifically at practice,” Baumgardt said. “Having it actually follow through and having that happen felt great.”
The Govs (3-8-3) had a strong defensive start at the beginning of the first half. The Golden Eagles forced goalkeeper Chloe Dion into an early save in the first 30 seconds of the game.
Both teams scored their goals in the second half, with Baumgardt connecting in the 54th minute and TTU’s Ashley Grimes making a 30-yard goal off a pass from Taylor Rhodes.
The key to Thursday’s game was to keep it tight. The Govs were able to remain competitive in the first half of the game in both offense and defense.
They kept dominant possession of the ball but started to come loose after the Golden Eagles’ goal.
“When we concede a goal, we tend to panic a little bit and we start to give the ball away in possession,” said APSU head coach Naomi Kolarova. “We don’t look after it, as well as the fact that we get tired.”
Kolarova said that the team has created a lot of opportunities on goal this season but is struggling to finish them out.
“It is mentally and emotionally draining — as well as physically draining — when you’re not getting results when you feel like you deserve them and you’re working for them.”
With just three games left in the season, Kolarova’s goal is to keep the team confident, change a few things tactically and keep the women believing in each other and themselves.
“At the end of the day, one point is better than none, so we’ll take it,” she said. “We have three games left and we have to play as well as we did and better.”
APSU travels to Edwardsville, Ill. on Sunday, Oct. 17 for a match against SIUE. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.
