EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Southern Indiana men's soccer team opens the 2016 home and Great Lakes Valley Conference schedules this weekend when it hosts the University of Missouri-St. Louis Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Maryville University Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Live coverage of USI's two-match homestand can be found on GoUSIEagles.com.
The USI-Maryville match-up is scheduled to be the Eagles' fifth annual Gold Game in recognition of September being Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. The Eagles will be wearing gold jerseys to promote awareness of the fight against pediatric cancers. Admission to Sunday's Gold Game is free of charge.
Week 2 Eagle Notes:
2-0-0 to start the year: With victories over Kentucky Wesleyan College, 3-1, and Trevecca Nazarene University, 3-2, to begin the campaign, USI is 2-0-0 for the second-straight season. The Eagles have posted 2-0-0 starts in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1993 and 1994.
Freshmen leading the way: The Eagles have scored six goals in the first two games of 2016 and all six were produced by five freshmen. Freshman forward
Eric Ramirez (Vincennes, Indiana) jumped started the Eagles' offense with pair of goals in the victory over Kentucky Wesleyan, while freshman midfielder
Sean Rickey (Columbia, Illinois), freshman defender
Justin Brooks (Fishers, Indiana), freshman midfielder
Adam Newman (Marion, Illinois), and freshman defender
Drew Albert (Eureka, Missouri) have posted one tally each in the two victories.
Zehme between the posts: Junior goalkeeper
Adam Zehme (Orland Park, Illinois) has started and won the first two games of 2016 for the Eagles. The junior has allowed three goals and made nine saves in the two contests.
USI tabbed eighth in GLVC poll: The Eagles were picked eighth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference preseason poll of the league's coaches. USI placed eighth last year in the regular season, prior to placing fifth in the GLVC Tournament.
This week's opponents in the GLVC: While the Eagles were picked to place eighth in the GLVC this season, UMSL was tabbed to place seventh and Maryville was slated to place 11
th in the league by the head coaches.
Return to the GLVC Tournament: USI is looking for back-to-back trips to the GLVC Tournament for the first time since 2002 and 2003.
USI trails UMSL in all-time record: The Eagles trail the Tritons in the all-time series, 20-5-2 despite picking up a 1-0, last second win over UMSL last fall in St. Louis, Missouri. USI junior midfielder
Brian Fischer (Jeffersonville, Indiana) scored from long range in the final seconds to give the Eagles the 1-0 win and break a six-game winless streak against the Tritons.
USI leads Maryville in all-time series: USI leads the all-time series with Maryville, 6-1-1, after tying the Saints last fall, 2-2, in St. Louis. The tie broke the Eagles five-match winning streak versus the Saints.