EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer concludes a two-match road swing Thursday with a matchup against the University of North Alabama at 7 p.m. The Screaming Eagles will look to extend their active unbeaten streak to four.
USI (2-1-1) tied 1-1 last time out on the road against Northern Illinois University last Sunday. The lone goal for the Screaming Eagles in Sunday's matchup with the Huskies came off the foot of senior forward Taylor Hall (Grayson, Kentucky), her first of the season. The assist went to freshman midfielder Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana), who now has four goals, one assist, and nine points this season.
Murphy was named the Ohio Valley Conference's Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. Besides her assist in Sunday's match, the freshman midfielder achieved her first career hat trick with three goals last Thursday against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Murphy is first in the OVC in goals and points. In the two matches last week, Murphy placed four of five shots on goal. She has now put a shot on target in three straight contests, the team's second-best active streak. Her shooting numbers are top five in the OVC.
Also, up for consideration as an OVC Defensive Player of the Week nominee was graduate student defender Mia Rose Daly (Haiku, Hawaii). Daly helped USI shut out Rose-Hulman last week 4-0, holding the Fightin' Engineers to only four shots and two on goal. In the 1-1 draw at Northern Illinois, Daly led USI's defense to hold the Huskies to only three shots on goal in 11 attempts. In her first few matches with USI, Daly has been a big impact player on the backline, winning over 90% of her one-on-one defensive battles. Plus, her distribution rate out of the back has had a success clip of over 80%.
Senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) heads into the matchup with North Alabama approaching a career milestone, needing four saves to hit 250 for her career and move into the top-five all-time in USI history for saves. Etienne already claims the program's all-time shutout record with 31. Etienne and the USI defense have been strong, as Etienne is averaging only seven shots faced per game, allowing only two total goals, and averaging 2.5 saves per game through four matches.
North Alabama is out of the ASUN in NCAA Division I. North Alabama is 2-0-2 so far in the 2022 season, winning 2-0 in each of their first two matches against Jackson State and Belmont and tying 1-1 and 0-0 against South Alabama and Troy, respectively. Junior forward Alice Bussey and senior defender Izzi Gurney lead the Lions with two goals scored. Bussey is also the team's leader with 10 shots and six shots on goal. Between the posts, junior goalkeeper Payton Yates has started three of the team's four matches. Yates has allowed a single goal for a 0.33 goals against average with 10 saves. She also has two shutouts this season. In 2021, North Alabama was 2-13-3 and 1-7-1 in the ASUN. Bussey was the Lions' leading scorer with three goals a season ago, while also pacing the team with 28 shots and 16 on goal.
Southern Indiana and North Alabama are meeting up for the fifth time, as USI leads the all-time series 2-1-1. This will be the first meeting where both programs are NCAA Division I status with the previous four matchups being at the Division II level. The Lions won the last matchup against the Screaming Eagles 3-0 on September 14, 2011. USI's last win in the series was a 1-0 victory on September 26, 2008.
Thursday's road match will be available for live video coverage with an ESPN+ subscription.
USI fans can stay up-to-date with the latest at usiscreamingeagles.com or follow USI Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
