Boyd, Tech Soccer Preparing For OVC Semis

For the third year in a row, as regular season champions the Tech’s women’s soccer is getting an extended break with a two-round bye in the OVC Tournament, head coach Corey Boyd said the team is not taking their foot off the gas while they wait for their next opponent.

It will be 11 days between their last regular season game and their first post-season game for the Golden Eagles. Boyd said this is not foreign territory for the program and the players are still staying sharp while the tournament unfolds.

“We’re training pretty hard and trying to keep the same focus and same drive and create as much replication as possible” Boyd said. “We did some running yesterday just to try and stay fit and we’ll probably do a little bit more of that just to kind of stay on our game.”

With this being the longest break the team will have between games since August, Boyd said another emphasis during this time is healing from injuries. He said the collegiate soccer season is a long, brutal grind on the body and his team is feeling the effects.

“We had some injuries early on and have some injuries that we’ve been carrying for a while,” Boyd said. “Minor ones that kids are kind of just resting and trying to recover from at the moment. So, it comes at a pretty good time for us.”

Boyd said it is a balancing act trying to prioritize both recovery periods with intense practice sessions. He said this time comes with a lot of distractions as well.

The team will be attending a banquet Friday night and this weekend Tech will celebrate homecoming this weekend and honor the women’s soccer team at the football game. Boyd said he told his players to block out the noise and lock in.

“In our minds, we’re chasing something that we haven’t achieved yet,” Boyd said. “Winning the league is a huge honor, it’s something that we’ve been seeking in the season no doubt. But, in the end we’ve done that before and this is now what we want to achieve, is get to the NCAA tournament.”

Tech will host the OVC Tournament final four next week. They will play the winner of Morehead State and Southern Indiana, Thursday at noon.