The Middle Tennessee Crusaders (5-2) handed the Marshall County Tigerettes (6-5-1) their second straight loss on Wednesday afternoon when they defeated MCHS 4-0 at Cook Soccer Park in Columbia.

Marshall County had narrowly defeated Middle Tennessee 6-5 in their lone meeting last year, but the Crusaders knocked MCHS back on their heels at the start of Wednesday's contest and scored two early goals to build a 2-0 lead in the first half.

Although the Tigerettes played with a greater sense of urgency in the second half, they were unable to find the back of the net while Middle Tennessee tallied two goals in the final five minutes of the match to claim their fifth win of the season.

Serious foe

"I don't know if we underestimated them because we had a tough game with them last year, but we did underestimate the amount of effort that was needed to win the game," said Marshall County coach Mark Redferrin. "I think if we could have put away one of those scoring chances in the second half we might have been able to get some momentum, but they wanted to stop us from scoring more than we wanted to score."

Aided by their strong first half performance, the Crusaders outshot MCHS 11-8 overall. Striker Emma Jane Farmer scored two goals to spearhead Middle Tennessee's offensive attack, while Aidan Foriest and Heidi Yancey tallied one goal apiece with Foriest dishing out one assist.

Senior striker Emily Spence paced the Tigerettes with three shots, while Clara Wilson took two shots. Abbey Cross, Amber Farmer, and Callie Johnson each attempted one shot for Marshall County as well.

Netters

In net, Crusader goaltender Caleigh Castorena finished with five saves en route to recording the shutout, while MCHS goalie Alexis Ford notched four saves.

Middle Tennessee grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute when Emma Jane Farmer weaved her way through the Marshall County defense before rifling a 15-yard shot just inside the left post from the middle of the field.

Emma Jane Farmer then gave the Crusaders a 2-0 advantage by lining a close range shot underneath the top post of the net after dribbling around a Tigerette defender in the middle of the field.

Marshall County had a chance to cut into the deficit late in the first half when Spence got behind the Middle Tennessee defense in the 39th minute but Castrorena came out of the net and deflected Spence's shot to keep MCHS off the board.

Pressure

The Tigerettes put more pressure on the Crusader net in the second half, but were unable to come away with a goal. After Castrorena caught a close range shot by Cross in the 41st minute, Spence fired a 12-yard shot over the net in the 54th minute before Castrorena stopped a low, skidding shot by Spence in the 67th minute.

Foriest then stretched Middle Tennessee's lead to 3-0 in the 75th minute by making a run down the middle of the field and blasting a close range shot past Ford.

In the 79th minute, the Crusaders tacked on another goal to wrap up their 4-0 win when Yancey took a pass from Foriest in the middle of the field before dribbling in and firing a shot into the lower left hand corner of the net.