As Ohio Valley Conference play dwindles down in October, the race for first place remains close.

Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville leads the OVC 3-0-1 (4-4-2) as of Sunday. They have defeated Southeast Missouri and Lindenwood on the road and Eastern Illinois at home and they tied with Southern Indiana last Sunday afternoon. In OVC play, they have scored five goals and have only given one up. In the coming weeks, they will take on Tennessee Tech, Little Rock, UT Martin, and Morehead State.

Morehead State is right behind SIUE as they are also 3-0-1 (6-4-2) as of Sunday. They have scored a total of six goals and have given up one goal in OVC play. They have defeated USI, UT Martin, and Little Rock. They tied their game with EIU. As the season comes near the end, they will head on the road for their next three matches at SEMO, Lindenwood, and Tennessee Tech. They will play their final game at home against SIUE.

Tennessee Tech is in third place with a 2-0-2 (4-4-4) record. They have scored a total of seven goals and have given up two in OVC play. They went 2-0 on the road to begin the OVC season as they defeated EIU and USI. They tied their OVC home opener with Lindenwood and tied their match at UT Martin last Sunday afternoon. They will play at home for their next three matches hosting SIUE, SEMO, and Morehead State. They will play their final game on the road at Little Rock.

OVC newcomer Little Rock is currently 2-2 (5-5-2) as they are the only team without a tie so far. In OVC play, they have scored a total of three goals and have given up four. They have defeated UT Martin on the road as well as USI and they have lost to Lindenwood and Morehead

State. In the coming weeks they will play three home games hosting SEMO, EIU, and Tennessee Tech and one on the road at SIUE.

The other OVC newcomer Lindenwood is behind Little Rock at 1-1-2 (4-6-3). In OVC play, they have scored two goals and have allowed two. They defeated Little Rock and lost to SIUE. They have tied their last two games 0-0 against Tennessee Tech as well as SEMO. They will face UT Martin and EIU on the road and host USI and Morehead State in the closing weeks of OVC play.

SEMO is in sixth place with a 1-1-1 (5-5-1) record. They have scored two goals and have allowed three in OVC play. They dropped their first OVC home game to SIUE, then went on to beat EIU on the road. On Sunday, they tied with Lindenwood. They will face Little Rock, Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, Southern Indiana, and UT Martin in the closing weeks of OVC play.

EIU is in seventh place with a 0-3-1 (2-5-5) and is one of three teams who remain winless in OVC play. In OVC play, they have scored one goal and have allowed four. 

They have lost to Tennessee Tech, SEMO, and SIUE. They tied in their match with Morehead State. They will play UT Martin, Little Rock, Lindenwood, and USI as the season comes to an end.

Behind EIU is USI who also has a 0-3-1 (3-5-3) OVC record. They are yet to score a goal and have given up six. They have lost to Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, and Little Rock, and tied with SIUE. They will face Lindenwood, UT Martin, SEMO, and EIU as they close the season. They will also have a non-conference home game with Chicago State on Oct. 6.

In last place is UT Martin with a 0-2-1 (2-6-3) record. They have scored four goals in OVC play and have given up seven. 

They have lost to Little Rock, Morehead State, and have tied with Tennessee Tech. They will face Lindenwood, EIU, USI, SIUE, and SEMO in the coming weeks.

Kate Stevens can be reached at 581-2812 or ketstevens2@eiu.edu