Skyhawk soccer fans were singing “Ole! Ole! Ole!” all weekend as UTM picked up two conference victories against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, their firsts of the season. These wins evened their OVC record at 2-2-0.

Friday afternoon, UTM welcomed to Skyhawk Field first year program EKU, who was coming off a surprise upset of defending OVC champion Samford.

Both teams came out strong early, with the lone goal of the half coming off a corner kick sent into the box by freshman Jody Kiers to sophomore Jamie Price who soared above the EKU defenders heading the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.

Hoping to avoid the close game situations that have plagued the Skyhawks in recent games, Kindal Keim and Katie Jackson came out on a mission in the second half, hoping to put away EKU. Six minutes into the period Jackson sent a pass to Keim who netted the Skyhawks second goal of the match.

Three minutes later, Keim would return the favor when she found Jackson cutting to the goal who score a third goal for UTM.

Now on their heels, EKU lost the ensuing kickoff only to watch Keim and Jackson connect for another goal only 20 seconds later, putting the Skyhawks up 4-0.

UTM was not finished though, as senior Dani Myrick added an unassisted goal in the 57th minute of the match.

Jackson later scored the final goal of the match and her third goal of the second half on an unassisted play. The goal gave her the first hat trick of her career, and only the fourth in Skyhawk soccer history.

“We were finally able to put together a complete game, and didn’t let down in the second half,” said Skyhawk head coach Nathan Pifer. On Sunday, UTM looked to continue their success (and avenge a loss from last season) as the Eagles of Morehead State came calling.

Myrick found junior Jamie Ohlheiser streaking down field to score the Skyhawks’ first goal of the only 14 minutes into the match. In the 24th minute of the first half Jackson found Keim, as they again connected for a goal putting the Skyhawks up 2-0.

Three minutes later sophomore Katie Berhens scored her fifth goal of the season on an unassisted play to give UTM a 3-0 lead going into halftime.

Coming out strong in the second half, Keim scored her second goal of the match, and fourth of the season, off an assist from junior Ohlheiser in the 50th minute.

In the 61st minute Behrens netted her second goal of the match, ans sixth of the season, off an assist from Keim. Five minutes later Jackson put the Skyhawks sixth goal of the match on the board when she scored on an unassisted play.

The lone disappointment for the Skyhawks came when they Morehead’s Trista Stark scored in the 72nd minute, taking away UTM’s chance at back-to-back shutouts.

UTM would score the final goal of the match, putting them up 7-1 when freshman Paula Sanematsu netted her second career goal.

The seven goal performance ties the second highest goal output for a single game in Skyhawk history, only topped by the ten goal match also against Morehead State during the 2002 season.

Pifer said of the weekend that he was “excited about the effort and that the goals are coming.” He hopes this will lead to bigger things this year saying “this puts us right in the mix, and if we can steal a couple points on the road we will be right there in the end.”

The Skyhawks will hit the road this weekend as they look to continue their current winning streak and knock off Samford Bulldogs who are the defending conference champion, and the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.