EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Men's Soccer returns to Strassweg Field on Thursday, September 1st, as they play host to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay at noon. The Screaming Eagles will then travel to Edwardsville, Illinois to take on Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville on Monday, September 5th, at 7pm.
 
Last season USI finished with a 3-5-1 record at home, their first time finishing below .500 at home since 2015 (4-5). When the Eagles host the Phoenix, it will be their lone home match in their first six matches. After Thursday, USI will play three more road matches before returning home to host Lindenwood University in a non-conference match.
 
In their last match against Northern Kentucky University, the Eagles got the match started with a goal from Nick Faddis (St. Louis, Missouri) on Sunday at the 27:48 mark in the first half. Faddis played the ball off a deflected pass from Jackson Mitchell (Newburgh, Indiana) and made a clean shot right at the NKU goalkeeper who wasn't able to make the save and it deflected right into the bottom left corner. USI struck again at the 52:24 mark as Faddis played a spectacular through ball into the box for Dan Hartman (Seymour, Indiana) before Hartman played it back off to Faddis who made a beautiful back heel touch pass over to Mical Hardtman (Hamilton Parrish, Bahamas) who was able to tap it into the bottom left corner past two Norse defenders.
 
In their two opening matches this season, USI has collected 14 shots and seven shots on goal. Comparing to their opponents who have already amounted 30 shots and 16 shots on goal in the young season. Not only that but the Eagles have given eight more corners to their opponents than they've taken, allowing 13 while only taking five. In the two matches, opposing goalkeepers have had to make just five saves while USI has made eight saves.
 
With the uncertainty of who would be in goal for the Eagles this season, Head Coach Mat Santoro has already tried a couple options. In the season opener at Belmont University, he went with the experienced Alec Meissner (St. Charles, Missouri). Meissner faced 12 shots from the Bruins and four shots on goal but finished the game with zero saves and two goals allowed. Against Northern Kentucky, Santoro went with a different route in freshman Giancarlo Varano (Woodbridge, Canada). Varano would make eight saves on the day facing 18 shots and 12 shots on goal but would allow three goals in the second half.
 
USI came out with a physical mentality as they took the field on Sunday at Northern Kentucky. When the game finished the Eagles had five players that were booked for yellow cards, including Mitchell who was also booked for a yellow in game one against Belmont. This was the most yellow cards the Eagles have received in one match since November of 2018 when they received six yellow cards, including current assistant coach Eric Ramirez being sent off after receiving a double yellow, against Saginaw Valley State University in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Graduate transfer Faddis got his first involvement of the year, scoring his first goal in an Eagles uniform against Northern Kentucky on Sunday while also assisting on the other USI goal. USI has five players on the team who have played over 100 minutes in the season so far, four of them were not on last year's roster. Returning defender and Summit League player to watch Colten Walsh (St. Louis, Missouri) leads the team after playing every minute from both games but following him are transfers Faddis and Damian McGregor-Wickham (Toronto, Canada) as well as freshmen Ednilson Voiles (Plainfield, Indiana) and Will Kirchhofer (Fishers, Indiana). Those four have also combined for four shots on goal, out of the teams seven, and have six out of the teams 14 total shots on the young season.
 
In their two games this season the Eagles have struggled in the second half of games. Already allowing four goals in the final 45 minutes while scoring just one. Last season USI allowed 18 goals in the second half while scoring 14. The Eagles have also been stronger in the first half of games after scoring just six goals in the first half last year and allowing 11.
 
Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix
Wisconsin-Green Bay comes to Strassweg Field with a 1-0-1 record after putting up a 2-1 victory over Eastern Illinois University and a 0-0 draw with Chicago State University last week. Ruben Linden and Andrew Paolucci were the two goal scorers in that match against Eastern Illinois for the Phoenix while assists were provided by Jake Parish and Kolton Prater. Linden was also recently named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week. The Phoenix are led by Michael McDougail this season as he has seven shots while him and three others have two shots on goal. Tobias Jahn has started both games in goal for Green Bay, allowing just one goal and making one save after facing 13 shots and two shots on goal in two games.
 
SIUE Cougars
USI travels to take on SIUE on Monday, September 5th, at 7 pm. The Cougars are 0-1-1 on the season after a 3-1 loss to Loyola Marymount University and a 1-1 draw against Cal State University Northridge this past week. The Cougars will also host Lindenwood on Friday before hosting the Eagles. Ignacio Abeal Pou and Will Harris were the two goal scorers in the opening week matches for the Cougars while assists came from Sam Layton and Oskar Lenz. Layton also leads the team in shots this season with four while Abeal Pou and Andres Delascio lead the team with two shots on goal. SIUE has used two goalkeepers this season, Eric Bauche started against Loyola Marymount, making three saves on 12 shots faced and six shots on goal and allowing three goals past. Sam Gomez started in net against Cal State Northridge, he made four saves on 16 shots faced and five shots on goal, he allowed just the one goal past on the day.