The UT Martin Skyhawks women’s soccer team emerged victorious in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Women’s Soccer Championship following a 2-1 victory against the SIU Edwardsville (SIUE) Cougars.
The Skyhawks, who were the regular season OVC champions, had a bye up to the semifinals. With SIUE on the horizon, the only OVC team to beat UT Martin in the regular season, the Skyhawks had a little more to gain from this victory.
The Skyhawks defense struggled in the first half, allowing the Cougars’ attack to create a lot of opportunities. The first goal came from Cougars sophomore midfielder Claire Nieroda in the 11′ minute, after graduate goalkeeper Mac Titus bobbled the save, sending the goal to a review. The rest of the first half was quiet for the Skyhawks, but the Cougars recorded two of their four yellow cards before halftime.
To start the second, the Skyhawks came out with a different attitude. The first goal for the Skyhawks came in the 50′ minute after senior forward Peyton Cook tapped in a ball past Cougars senior goalkeeper Sarah Bozeman, off of passes from junior midfielder Unni Wolf and senior forward Millie Perry, for the Skyhawks equalizer.
In the 57′ minute, the Skyhawks found their second goal, which would prove to be enough for the win. Seven minutes after the first goal from UT Martin, passes from Cook and Perry set Wolf up for her fifth goal of the season.
The Skyhawks and Cougars were both assessed two yellow cards in the second half.
“I think the wind in the first half made it hard to judge the ball in the air, and I thought we didn’t play our best first half,” said Skyhawks Head Coach Mike Varga. “We gave up the corner that led to the goal, but we didn’t hang our heads and played a pretty dominant second half.”
“We gave them some chances, they’re a very good attacking team, but proud of how hard we hung in there, and the team stayed together,” said Varga.
The Skyhawks will now take on the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles in the OVC Championship game on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026 at Skyhawk Soccer Field in Martin, Tennessee.
The regular season matchup against the Screaming Eagles ended in a 0-0 tie in a game where there were three yellow cards given, and each team had 10 fouls apiece.
