EVANSVILLE, IN – The University of Southern Indiana men's soccer team hits the road in the midst of a three-game winning streak for the first time since 2009 when it travels to Saint Joseph's College and the University of Indianapolis this weekend in Great Lakes Valley Conference action. USI kicks-off at Saint Joseph's is 5 p.m. Friday, while the start time at UIndy is 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Screaming Eagles won three-of-four matches during their longest homestand of the season and posted a weekend sweep for the first time this year. USI completed its first weekend sweep by defeating the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, 3-1, and Lewis University, 3-2, in overtime. The Eagles' victory over Lewis also broke a nine-match losing streak to the Flyers.
USI was led during the homestand by senior defender
Danny Pratte (Florissant, Missouri), who posted eight of his nine points this season on three goals and two assists. Pratte single-handedly kept USI in the match against Lewis, scoring the team's first two goals and assisting on the game-winner in overtime.
The senior defender has already reached a career-high this season with nine points on three goals and three assists. The nine points is a team-high, while the three goals and three assists are tied for first on the team.
Senior midfielders
Austin Andrekus (St. Charles, Illinois) and
Jeffrey McClure (Indianapolis, Indiana) follow Pratte in the scoring with seven points each. Andrekus is tied with Pratte with three goals, while dishing out an assist. McClure has a pair of goals, but is tied for the team-lead with three assists.
On defense, junior goalkeeper
Jeffrey Neidlinger (Carmel, Indiana) leads the way with a 0.83 goals against average (GAA) in six matches and 540 minutes of action. Senior goalkeeper
Ben Dempsey (Evansville, Indiana) has a 0.97 GAA in two matches and 186 minutes of play. Both USI keepers have a shutout this season.
The Pumas of Saint Joseph's (1-7-0, 0-6-0 GLVC) are still looking for their first victory in GLVC play when they start a homestand with USI Friday. Saint Joseph's was outscored 6-1 this weekend in losses to Bellarmine University, 3-0, and McKendree University, 3-1.
USI leads the all-time series with Saint Joseph's, 18-4-2, after the teams battled to a 0-0, double-overtime tie last fall. USI has won three of the last five matches and settled for a pair of ties since 2007.
The Greyhounds of the UIndy (3-5-1, 2-3-1 GLVC) broke a three-match losing streak with a win and a tie on the road last week. UIndy shutout McKendree, 5-0, but tied Bellarmine, 1-1, in double-overtime.
The Eagles lead the all-time series with the Greyhounds, 19-9-0, after falling to UIndy last fall 3-2. USI and UIndy have split the last four meetings.
