Murfreesboro, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Women's Soccer rescued a point late on Sunday afternoon against Sam Houston, tying 2-2.
 
The draw bumps the Blue Raiders down to fifth in Conference USA with an 8-3-3 (1-1-1 CUSA) mark, while their adversaries on the afternoon bring a 4-4-4 (0-2-1 CUSA) record back to Huntsville.
 
''We take the approach of the next-man-up mentality and I think our kids have done a good job at that so far,'' MTSU Head Coach Aston Rhoden said. ''We'll make some adjustments for our next opponent because it's on the road and that's a totally different environment than playing here.''
 
Just 10 minutes into the afternoon's affairs, Megan Carroll sent a through ball for Saachi Bureau on the right wing, with the defender only able to get a slight touch to it. Bureau used her pace to dribble towards the byline into the box, before squaring it into the penalty area for Hannah Murphy to slot it home. The co-captain's fifth goal of the season is her second in three matches and set a new single-season career-high goal tally for the second time in 2026.

With the assist, Bureau improved her team-leading assist count to four, putting her in a five-way tie for the lead in CUSA.
 
Five minutes later, Bureau looked to get on the scoresheet herself after the goalscorer chipped a ball into the penalty area. The No. 32 cut inside with her first touch before taking a touch and unleashing a trivela towards the top left corner, forcing a fingertip save from Bearkats goalkeeper Hannah Stipp to keep the advantage at one.
 
On the other end, Hannah Bolin and Sam Houston looked to respond quickly, as she was sent through the MTSU back line and was in on goal. However, Bryn Forchic won the footrace with the midfielder, sliding to make a goal-saving block at the last moment.
 
The Bearkats continued to rattle off shots that Demi Gronauer and co. kept out, but a Gianna Gomez penalty kick levelled the score with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
 
Just before halftime, Ellie Morgan crossed the ball into Sara Benton, who controlled it well and finished for Sam Houston's second goal of the game.
 
In the second half, the Blue and White upped the ante, taking 13 shots in search of an equalizer. 

The scoring moment finally came with just under six minutes to play, when Zoey Kulas smartly took a quick throw into a wide open Carroll. The co-captain took a shot from about 40 yards out, arcing it perfectly towards the back of the net that Stipp could not get secure hands to.

MTSU's second goal of the afternoon marked Carroll's second of the season, the fourth in her career and a new single-season career best for the midfielder. Kulas' throw-in assist on the goal marked the first of her collegiate career.
 
In goal, Gronauer completed 90 minutes, making a wealthy contribution of six saves to help earn her team a valuable conference point. The Las Vegas, Nev., native's 14 saves in her last two matches are the most by an MTSU goalkeeper since she made seven saves in two consecutive matches against FIU (Sept. 19, 2024) and UTEP (Sept. 26, 2024) two seasons ago.
 
As a team, the Blue Raiders shot 22 times with 15 on frame, the most since the match against Jackson State earlier this year, when they took 24 shots with 16 on target.
 
Individually, sophomore defender/midfielder Charli Dunn made her first appearance of the season, both starting and completing 90 minutes for the first time in her collegiate career.
 
Murphy set a new single-game career high with four shots on target, while Alli Craig set new statistical bests in multiple categories, playing a season-high 44 minutes while registering a career-high four shots and tying her shot-on-target tally with two.
 
Payton Pitman took a career-high three shots while tying her career-best two shots on target, while Zoey Kulas, along with her first collegiate assist, logged her first two career shots and first shot on goal.
 
Up Next
Middle Tennessee will hit the road for a clash with Missouri State on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m., before flying to Delaware for a road test on Oct. 18. 
 
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