HILDRETH SAVES THE DAY AS SKYHAWKS DISPEL SYCAMORES TO CLOSE THREE-GAME ROAD TRIP

Sunday, August 29

Terre Haute, Ind.

12:00 PM

UT Martin

2-1-1, 0-0-0

Indiana State

1-3-0, 0-0-0

UT Martin

Indiana St.

HILDRETH SAVES THE DAY AS SKYHAWKS DISPEL SYCAMORES TO CLOSE THREE-GAME ROAD TRIP

8/29/2021 3:49:00 PM | Soccer

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The University of Tennessee at Martin soccer team will enjoy a celebratory trip back home on Sunday afternoon thanks in large part to the heroics of senior striker Jill Hildreth, who parachuted two Skyhawk scores past Indiana State in the 19^th and 71^st minutes to hand UTM their second victory of the year in dramatic fashion by a 2-1 clip.

Overcoming the tying goal from the Sycamores with 35 minutes left on the clock, head coach Phil McNamara's unit avoided overtime with the game-clinching unassisted boot from Hildreth, who boosted her career score total to 15, including seven cash-ins since last spring. Marking the second occasion in four appearances that the Skyhawks landed a pair of goals in a single match, UT Martin improves to 2-1-1 with the non-conference triumph, ready to return home for the next three meetings riding a large wave of momentum.

Three days after a tight 1-0 defeat at the hands of Indiana, wherein the Skyhawks were only able to muster four shot attempts, that figure only rose by one against ISU on Sunday. However, Hildreth's goal encore provided UTM with just enough to eke out the thrilling win on the road. Indiana State managed two more shot attempts by the time the final seconds ticked away, although the Sycamores didn't feature nearly as much strength offensively despite that statistic, save for just the second goal allowed by UT Martin all season in the 55^th minute.

Extending her season tally to 13 saves by halting five Indiana State shots for her second W of the fall, graduate keeper Erica Myers grabbed a double-whammy by making her 68^th career start at the position, tying the Ohioan with Mariah Klenke (2011-14) for the most appearances in the net in school history. Over her five-year tenure in Martin, Myers has now gathered 275 saves overall as part of the Skyhawks' preventive efforts to deny the Sycamores a chance for the game-tying kick over the final 19 minutes of regulation.

True freshman attacker Makayla Robinson – who notched UTM's first of now four goals on the season 10 days earlier – logged the assist on Hildreth's first score of the season just under 20 minutes into the weekend affair on just the second look at the net of the afternoon. As a matter of fact, Hildreth was responsible for all but two of the Skyhawks' shot tries for the entire game, as the only attempts not from #17 were the first of the day from junior Catey Hunt eight minutes before the team's first goal and the other from Jill's twin sister Jaden Hildreth seconds prior to the game-winner.

UT Martin cruised into the locker room still touting the 1-0 advantage, although it wouldn't last long into the second half due to ISU's equalizer only ten minutes into the period off of Nora Henderson aided by a Mackenzie Kent assist.

Despite the blunder (the only second-half goal given up by UTM all year), the Skyhawks remained vigilant on the defensive end by only allowing the Sycamores two more shots for the rest of the day, the last of which was swatted away by Myers with just under 10 minutes left.

As Jaden Hildreth's take at the tiebreaker was narrowly avoided by ISU keeper Maddie Alexander at the 69:42 stamp, the other half of the senior sibling duo connected 32 seconds later to throw out the life jacket for the Skyhawks and send them home happy. The thrilling finish gave UT Martin their second all-time win over the Sycamores in three outings, having most recently met and defeated their Missouri Valley Conference foe seven years earlier on their home turf.

Reaching all three possible decisions – a win, loss, and tie – over their three-game road series, coach McNamara's squad will gear up for three in a row in familiar territory beginning on Thursday evening. The Lions of North Alabama will visit Martin on the second day of September for a 7:00 kickoff, representing the first meeting between the two schools in 22 years. UNA last tussled with the Skyhawks in UTM's second-ever campaign back in 1999, just managing a 4-3 overtime win which avenged a 4-2 loss the previous year.