EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana women's soccer team hopes to continue its winning ways at home when it starts a short two-match homestand 5 p.m. Friday against GLVC-newcomer University of Illinois at Springfield. The homestand concludes noon Sunday when the Screaming Eagles host traditional-league rival Quincy University.
USI (4-3-2, 3-1-1 GLVC) jumped back over the .500 mark Sunday when it defeated Lewis University, 1-0. The Eagles also were winless in a pair of matches last week, tying the University of North Alabama, 2-2, and 17th-ranked University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 1-1, in double-overtime matches.
Leading the Eagles to the 1-0-2 week was the GLVC Player of the Week, sophomore forward Meagan Kempf. Kempf, who had a pair of assists in the tie with UNA and had the lone USI goal in the tie with UW-Parkside, is third on the team with six points this season on one goal and a team-high four assists.
For the season, freshman forward Susan Ellsperman leads USI with 10 points on team-high four goals and two assists. Sophomore forward Nancy Newcomer, who will miss the homestand due to a red card in the win over Lewis, follows Ellsperman in the scoring column with eight points on three goals and two assists.
The Prairie Stars of UIS (2-5-0, 0-5-0 GLVC) come to Evansville in search of their first win in the league. UIS started the year with a pair of non-conference victories, but has been shutout by four straight GLVC teams in the last three weeks.
Friday's match-up will be the first meeting between USI and UIS in women's soccer.
The Hawks of Quincy (5-3-0, 3-1-0 GLVC), who play at the University of Missouri-St. Louis Friday, start the week having won three of their last four matches. Quincy swept its two-match homestand in the league last weekend with wins against Missouri University of Science and Technology and Maryville University, while averaging 2.5 goals per game.
USI trails the all-time series with Quincy, 7-5-1, and has lost the last three meetings to the Hawks. The Eagles won four of the first five meetings after the teams battled to a tie in the inaugural meeting in 1996.
