JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Middle Tennessee Women’s Soccer opened Conference USA play on the right foot after Saachi Bureau and Hannah Murphy netted in quick succession to push the Blue Raiders past Jax State on Sunday, 2-0.
 
With the victory, MTSU claims its first three points of the conference slate and moves to 8-2-2 on the season, ranking the Murfreesboro outfit tied for first on the CUSA leaderboard after week one of play. 
 
”I am really pleased with the overall performance of the team in terms of what we executed on the field and the support and energy that our bench gave us,” MTSU head coach Aston Rhoden said. ”It’s great for them to be able to come back, show some resiliency, and most importantly play to our identity and I think that’s what gave us that tough road win.”
 
Middle Tennessee knocked on the door plenty of times in the first half, with Ania Denham leading the way with a single-game career-high four shots against Gamecocks goalkeeper Camdyn Magrosky.
 
The Blue Raiders outshot Jax State 8-1 in the first half and never looked like conceding, despite their inability to break the deadlock.
 
During the second half, Phillips came inches away from an opener in the 49th minute when her shot appeared to best Magrosky, but a block at the final moment denied her team the lead.
 
The winning moment came just seven minutes later when Liza Miller sent Phillips down the wing with a through ball in behind that she reached before her defender could. The Sammamish, Wash., native delivered an accurate first-time cross towards the far post for the oncoming Bureau, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net for her second goal of the season.
 
 

Our wingers combined to put us ahead 👏 pic.twitter.com/Uf025At1AU

— Middle Tennessee Soccer (@MT_Soccer) September 27, 2026

  
Less than three minutes later, MTSU capitalized on a Jax State giveaway to double the lead and put the contest out of reach for the home side. Bureau forced a turnover from an errant Gamecocks pass that she sent to Luiza Junior dos Santos, who quickly found Denham at the top of the box. With her back to goal, the forward laid it off for Murphy, who made no mistake firing home past Magrosky for her single-season career-best fourth goal and Middle Tennessee’s second. 
 
 

Hannah scores our second in three minutes and her career-high fourth goal of the season!💥 pic.twitter.com/QgAQRcORR9

— Middle Tennessee Soccer (@MT_Soccer) September 27, 2026

  
Both of the afternoon’s goals were scored in the span of 2:14, which marks the fastest MTSU has scored multiple goals since Oct. 19, 2025, when Murphy and Emma Pettersen both netted in 37 seconds during a 4-0 thrashing of UTEP.

Denham’s assist marks her fifth-straight game with a goal contribution, the first Blue Raider to do so since Peyton DePriest between Sept. 2 and Sept. 16, 2021 when she scored five goals and provided three assists spanning five consecutive contests.

Goalkeeper Ella Sellers made two tidy saves to maintain the shutout for the Blue and White as she totaled three on the day and extended her perfect record in goal to 447 minutes.

Middle Tennessee’s eighth shutout of the season puts it only one shy of last year’s tally while keeping pace with the nation’s leaders, including Saint Mary’s (CA), Auburn, Purdue, Green Bay and Stanford.

As a result, Rhoden improves both his and the program’s record in CUSA openers to 8-6.
 
Up Next
Middle Tennessee will return home to host reigning CUSA tournament champion Liberty on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. before turning its attention to Sam Houston on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. in Murfreesboro. 
 
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