The regular season is over for the OVC women’s soccer teams, and the tournament bracket is set. 

At the top is Tennessee-Martin. They occupied this position for most of the season and posted an OVC record of 9-0-1. Their only draw came against Eastern on Sept. 30. 

Tennessee-Martin earned 28 conference points, which is seven more points than the second place team. 

They also posted the best OVC record since 2015, when Murray State went 10-0 in conference play.

Speaking of Murray State, they finished in second place after being the top seed for three straight seasons. Their 21 points are six more than the third place finisher. 

The middle of the bracket is much closer. 

Eastern earned the third seed in the tournament with 15 points. Eastern Kentucky also had 15 points, but Eastern was awarded the higher seed on a tiebreaker. Since they tied their regular season match, the tiebreaker was decided by each team’s record against the top seed, Tennessee-Martin.

It is Eastern’s first trip to the tournament since 2013. 

Tied at 13 conference points are Southern Illinois Edwardsville and Belmont. Southern Illinois Edwardsville beat Belmont in the regular season and was awarded the five seed. 

Rounding out the bracket are Southeast Missouri and Morehead State. They both had 12 points, and Southeast Missouri was given the tiebreaker after beating Morehead State on Sept. 30.

Missing the tournament this season are Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Jacksonville State. 

Tennessee Tech struggled this season after finishing in second place in 2017 and 2015, and in third place in 2016. They finished just one point behind Morehead State.

Austin Peay limped to the finish line, losing their last four matches. They even led the OVC earlier in the season. 

Jacksonville State finds themselves outside the tournament for the third consecutive year. 

Individually, senior Amy McGivern of Tennessee-Martin led the OVC with 13 goals. Erin Torrence from Eastern Kentucky and Esmie Gonzalez from Southeast Missouri finished tied for second with nine goals each. 

Murray State’s Abby Jones led the OVC with seven assists. Eastern junior Lexi Ketterhagen tied for the fourth most assists in the conference with four. 

Morgan Lerch from Jacksonville State led the conference with 81 saves, but also allowed 26 goals, the most in the conference. 

Only three qualifying goalkeepers finished with a save percentage of over .800. They were Southeast Missouri’s Bailey Redden (.829), Eastern’s Sara Teteak (.821) and Murray State’s Alex Steigerwald (.800).

Teteak led the conference with seven shutouts. 

The tournament begins on Friday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. when the six seed Belmont faces the seven seed Southeast Missouri, and the five seed Southern Illinois Edwardsville plays the eight seed Morehead State.

The winner of Belmont and Southeast Missouri will face Eastern in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 28 at Lakeside Field. 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]