By Kevin Farr
Murray State Sports Information
With less than a week of practice under their belts and battling through the heat, Murray State's soccer teams opened the 2023 fall campaign with a split of contests against visiting Ranger College on Monday afternoon.

The Lady Aggies dropped a 3-0 verdict in the opener before the Aggie men narrowly missed a shutout of their own with a 3-1 triumph over the Texas squad in the nightcap.

Coach John Connor's women's squad will be back in action at 10 a.m. Friday at East Central University while the men will be off until August 17 when they travel to Trinity Valley Community College.

In the opening game, Murray State was working to incorporate almost an entirely new unit with offensive opportunities hard to come by. Spain's Christina Escudero had a solid game in the midfield, covering a lot of ground according to the Lady Aggie skipper. He also pointed to the solid defensive performance of Bethan Cowd.

"We are still trying to get used to each other as well as the heat," Connor stated afterward. "We need to continue to work on our fitness and keep progressing as a unit before the start of conference play on August 27."

Murray State controlled much of the game on the men's side, notching the only goal of the first half on a penalty kick by Joel Green. Sophomore returnee Lucas Peruzo punched through another penalty kick early in the second half and then assisted Daika Montague for the final Aggie goal.

Ranger's lone goal came in the final minute of the second half.

"We played 28 different players and they all played pretty well considering our limited time together," Connor added. "We possessed the ball offensively most of the game and stayed aggressive. We still have a lot of work to do, however."