EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer hits the road once again this weekend with a matchup against the Northern Illinois Huskies Sunday at 1 p.m. The Screaming Eagles carry a two-match winning streak with them to Dekalb, Illinois.
 
USI (2-1-0) is coming off a 4-0 win in their 2022 home debut Thursday against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. In the win, freshman midfielder Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana) earned her first career hat trick, pushing her season goal total to four. The hat trick ties a single-game record for the USI Women's Soccer program.
 
Murphy scored her first goal in the 26^th minute Thursday, which led to a 1-0 lead for USI at halftime. Coming out of the break, Murphy and the Screaming Eagles scored a flurry of goals within the first nine minutes of the second half.  Murphy scored her second in the 50^th minute before picking up the hat trick goal in the 53^rd minute. Then 27 seconds later, junior midfielder Avery Schone (Galena, Ohio) joined the scoring column with her first goal of the season and USI's fourth goal of the match.
 
Senior midfielder Jill DiTusa (St. Charles, Illinois) made her 2022 season debut in Thursday's victory, making an immediate impact on the field. She tallied two assists and placed five of six shots on goal. DiTusa along with junior forward Morgan Beyer (Rossford, Ohio) are two points each away from moving into the top-15 all-time in USI history for career points.
 
Senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) picked up her 31^st career shutout to extend her record in USI history. Etienne is six saves away from moving into USI's top-five all-time for career saves, sitting at 244 saves.
 
Southern Indiana's offense has picked up right where it left off in 2021, proving to be a high-volume shooting team. In 2021, the Screaming Eagles were third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with 282 shots, averaging 14.1 shots per game. Through two matches in 2022, USI is at the top among Ohio Valley Conference teams with 55 shots, averaging 18.3 per game. After three matches, USI is outshooting their opponents 55 to 17 and 33 to 9 in shots on goal.
 
Northern Illinois is out of the Mid-American Conference in NCAA Division I. Northern Illinois is 1-0-1 so far in the 2022 season, winning 2-1 in their opener at Eastern Kentucky and drawing 0-0 at home against Lindenwood. Lea Gruennagel and Reegan Kingpavong are the goal-scorers so far this season for the Huskies. In net, Deighton Warner has made three saves with a 0.50 goals against average. Last season, the Huskies went 5-12-2 overall and 2-7-2 in the MAC. NIU returns only one of their top-four scorers from last season in Claudia Muessig, who scored three goals in 2021. The Huskies also return goalkeeper Sadie McGill, who made 75 saves in 12 starts with a 1.69 goals against average last season. Head Coach Michael O'Neill is in his first season at the helm after eight seasons at Saginaw Valley State.
 
USI fans can stay up-to-date with the latest at usiscreamingeagles.com or follow USI Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.