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Soccer Wins Ohio Valley Conference Championship

Morehead State University's soccer team posted a 1-0 victory over host UT Martin on Sunday afternoon in the finale of the 2013 Ohio Valley Conference Championship at Skyhawk Field. 

Junior forward Macy Cobb provided the only score MSU needed in the 46th minute, off an assist from sophomore defender Kelsey Gomez.

The tournament championship is Morehead State's third in the past six years. The Eagles also captured OVC Tournament crowns in 2008 and 2010. MSU will be the OVC's representative in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, which begins next weekend. The selection show is set for Monday at 4:30 p.m. and will be webcast on NCAA.com.

The second-seeded Eagles improve to 10-10-1 on the campaign, while the top-seeded Skyhawks finish the year 11-9-1. MSU posted a 7-3 record in conference matches this season, while the UTM managed an 8-2 mark.

"I'm happy for everyone associated with Morehead State soccer," Head Coach Warren Lipka said. "Our players have worked hard and deserve to be champions. They have shown so much improvement this year. We didn't have a great non-conference record, but we were playing very good opponents and I knew that would eventually pay off."

The Skyhawks, who had won nine of their previous 10 matches, managed advantages of 9-6 in shots, 7-3 in shots on goal and 5-3 in corner kicks. UTM was also the two-time defending league-tournament champion.

Sophomore goalkeeper Elizabeth Floyd was credited with a season-best seven saves for MSU, while junior forward Jade Flory recorded two shots. No other Eagle had more than one scoring attempt in Sunday's match.

"Today was a terrific win against a great opponent in UT Martin," Lipka said. "They were all over us in the first half and were controlling the match on their home field. We made a few adjustments at halftime and that paid off for us in the second half. Macy (Cobb) picked the best time to score a goal. And we defended really well after that."

Cobb's goal was her fifth of the season, while Gomez's assist was her fourth of the campaign. The tally came shortly after a corner kick when Cobb took a feed from the right side and beat the goalkeeper from approximately five yards out.

"It feels great to be a conference champion," Cobb said. "Our team has stuck together through the ups and downs this season, and everyone on our roster deserves this. The whole team was involved today. I had an opportunity to score and fortunately capitalized, but this is a team game and all of my teammates deserve a lot of credit."

Morehead State earned a first-round bye and posted a 4-2 victory over sixth-seeded Austin Peay in the OVC Tournament semifinals on Friday night. UTM had previously tallied a 3-0 win over MSU in this year's only regular-season meeting.

Cobb, Gomez, junior midfielder Lindsey Oettle and junior defender Elizabeth Tresnak were all named to the 11-person All-Tournament Team. Oettle, who registered an assist in the semifinal win, also earned Most Valuable Player honors.

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