(August 27, 2023) Tishomingo, Oklahoma - Coming off a win on Friday at home, the women of Bucks Soccer were looking to get off to a good start in region play this morning against Murray State College. This was their second early start time due to the recent heat that's occured in the region. Last season, the Bucks split the season series by winning at each of their home fields. 

This was expected to be a very tough road game, and so it proved. Murray State started out very strong and their aggressive long ball style almost got the first goal of the game in the 5^th minute but Emmaleigh Daniel (Stephenville, TX) headed clear from her own goalline. However, just 2 minutes later the ball was in the back of the UARM net. A long ball from the Murray defense was mscontrolled by the UARM defenders and the ball fell to the feet of the strikers. The resulting shot found the back of the net. The constant long ball play of Murray State was proving to be challenging for the UARM back line. The second goal came in the 12^th minute with a 25 yard free kick into the corner of the net. UARM responded and were rewarded with a goal themselves in the 23^rd minute. Anja von Allmen (Matten, Switzerland) threw the ball in from the wing to Carla Todd (Lochgilphead, United Kingdom), who laid the ball of to Brisa Aguilar (Dallas, TX) to shoot from outside of the box into the opposite far corner of the goal to make it 2-1. Any chance of a momentum change was soon squashed when in the 35^th minute MJ Rosas (Surprise, AZ) gave away a penalty kick with a hand ball. The resulting goal gave Murray State a 2 goal cushion once more. This lead was extended in the last minute of the half when we saw an almost carbon copy of the first goal. A long direct ball from the Murray defenders which UARM were unable to deal with, resulting in the ball falling to the opposition strikers. One pass and a shot was all it took for the goal to be conceded.

Half time was spent talking about how to handle the Murray State long ball style of play and a few adjustments were made as a result. Improvements were made but Murray State were able to add 2 more goals, one to a corner kick and one to a giveaway from within the UARM defensive third of the field. UARM was able to get on the score sheet when in the 57^th minute Abbie Sunners (Liverpool, United Kingdom) played a through ball for Jasmin Nielsen (Aabybro, Denmark) to run onto. She cut back onto her right foot and unleashed a pile driver of a shot into the top corner of the net. 

After the loss, Coach Sherry stated, "Murray State took advantage of the conditions today and used their bench well to rotate players in to combat the heat. Their very direct long ball style game might not be pretty to watch but it is very effective and we, as a team, need to learn quickly how best to combat this style of play. The ladies never gave up and fought to the end, scoring 2 very good goals which is a big positive moving forward."

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