Golden Eagle soccer hosts Lipscomb in Thursday’s 2025 season opener
A pair of preseason favorites will get together on the pitch in Cookeville to unwrap the start of another soccer season Thursday evening.
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Team Stats
Lipscomb
| Game Statistics | Lipscomb | Tennessee Tech |
|---|---|---|
| Shots (on goal) | 12 (6) | 3 (2) |
| Saves | 2 | 4 |
| Fouls | 11 | 10 |
| Corner Kicks | 6 | 3 |
| Offsides | 5 | 0 |
By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Athletics Media Relations
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – A pair of preseason favorites will get together on the pitch in Cookeville to unwrap the start of another soccer season Thursday evening. The Tennessee Tech soccer team and Lipscomb kick off the 2025 campaign with a battle under the lights set to get underway at 6 p.m. CT.
Admission to Tech Soccer Field is free of charge. The match will be livestreamed on ESPN+. Click here to watch. Live stats will also be available. Click here to view.
A look at Tennessee Tech
Winners of the last three Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles for only the league's second-ever outright three-peat, the Golden Eagles enter the season opener with eyes on a fourth-consecutive crown after the purple and gold were recently picked to win the OVC. In the conference's annual predicted order of finish, Tech took home 14-of-20 first-place votes on the way to a league-best 156 total points. Lindenwood, the defending OVC Tournament champ, received the other six first-place votes for 146 points to finish second in the poll.
The Golden Eagles jump into the year with three returning All-OVC performers in goalkeeper Maggie Conrad, midfielder Lucia Cuadra and forward Katie Toney. The conference also recently announced a Player to Watch, with midfielder Allison Lee boasting the distinction.
Conrad, an All-OVC second-teamer in 2024, had the third-most saves in the OVC with 95 denials. Now entering her senior season, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native is third on the program's all-time wins list with 23 career victories and second in career shutouts with 17 clean sheets throughout her Tech tenure.
Cuadra burst onto the scene in her first year as a Golden Eagle last season en route to an All-OVC first-team honor. The graduate student out of Barcelona, Spain led the league with nine assists for the second-most in a single-season in TTU history.
Toney will go into her senior year with back-to-back All-OVC first-team seasons in her back pocket in addition to an All-OVC second-team accolade as a freshman in 2022. Last year's seven goals were tied for fifth in the conference, while her 17 points were the fourth-most. The McMinnville, Tenn. product's 16 career goals are tied for the eighth-highest in program history.
Lee's return to the club in 2024 featured 20 starts and 1,505 minutes on the pitch for the fourth-most among field players in purple and gold. The red-shirt junior finished tied for third on the team with three goals. She was a member of the OVC All-Newcomer team in 2022.
A look at Lipscomb
Like the Golden Eagles, the Bisons were also picked to win their conference behind a preseason No. 1 selection in the Atlantic Sun Coaches Poll. Lipscomb received eight of the 12 first-place votes in the 12-team league.
The Bisons are coming off a banner 2024 season that saw them capture the ASUN Tournament championship for the program's fourth tourney title since 2018. Lipscomb secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament after rattling off wins over Bellarmine, Central Arkansas and Eastern Kentucky in the conference championship, outscoring the opposition 10-1 in the trio of triumphs. The Bisons were upended 4-1 to Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bella Carapazza and Bekah Doolittle were named to the ASUN Preseason All-Conference Team after both produced strong 2024 campaigns to help lead the Bisons to postseason glory. Carapazza, an ASUN first-teamer last year, finished second on the club with 17 points thanks to four goals and a team-leading nine assists.
As far as Doolittle is concerned, the senior from Beaverdam, Va. started all 15 matches she played last fall, compiling over 1,270 minutes as a reliable defensive veteran.
Inside the series
Tech holds an 8-3 edge in the all-time series with the Bisons. The two clubs last gathered in 2023, where the Golden Eagles claimed a 3-1 victory in Cookeville. The win snapped a three-match slide against TTU's in-state foe.
Photo | Mercer Athletics
