EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Following a first-round bye, University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer opens its Ohio Valley Conference Championship journey in the quarterfinals against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Sunday at 1 p.m. from Strassweg Field.
 
The Screaming Eagles (4-7-7, 3-2-4) secured their second consecutive OVC Tournament berth with 13 points during the conference slate, tying Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. USI was given the No. 4 seed due to tiebreaking procedures. After entering 2023 with only eight upperclassmen and shifting many returning players to new positions, Southern Indiana displayed tremendous growth and even improved its seeding by four spots from a year ago when the Screaming Eagles debuted in the OVC. Last season, as the eighth and final seed, USI fell in the first round to Lindenwood University, 2-1.
 
Southern Indiana concluded the regular season with a 2-1 road loss at Eastern Illinois University on October 22. Eastern Illinois scored first in the 19th minute, and despite USI tying the match right before halftime, the Panthers scored the game-winner in the 55th minute and held on the rest of the way. USI's goal was scored by sophomore forward Payton Seymour (Louisville, Kentucky), her second of the year. USI outshot EIU 17-6 overall and 7-3 in shots on goal.
 
The loss at Eastern Illinois snapped a season-best unbeaten streak of six matches for Southern Indiana. In fact, it was USI's first loss in the month of October, going 3-0-3 prior to the defeat. Despite the loss, the Eagles have earned a result in 10 of the last 12 matches, going 4-2-6 to finish the regular season.
 
As a team, USI was third in the OVC with 16 assists, fourth with a 1.22 GAA, and third with six shutouts. USI's OVC Preseason Players to Watch representative sophomore midfielder Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana) tallied a team-best 32 shots, which is eighth in the OVC. Murphy was named OVC Offensive Player of the Week on October 10. Freshman midfielder Pilar Torres (Chula Vista, California) had a strong debut season in a USI uniform, pacing the squad with three goals and tying Murphy with a team-high seven points. Fellow freshman midfielder Grace Bamber (Chesterton, Indiana) found the back of the net twice, both game-winning goals.
 
Between the posts, redshirt freshman Anna Markland (Hoover, Alabama) placed her name among the best newcomers in the OVC in 2023. The USI netminder tied for second in the conference with six shutouts, second with a 1.11 GAA, and fifth with 68 saves. Markland was also a three-time OVC Goalkeeper of the Week winner this season. Sophomore defender Charli Grafton (Sunriver, Oregon) helped lead USI's defensive unit, which had a big hand in the six shutouts and top-four GAA in the league. Grafton was named OVC Defender of the Week twice during the year. At one point in October, the Screaming Eagles' defense held opponents scoreless for 290 consecutive minutes.
 
Little Rock (6-4-8, 2-3-4) advanced past the first round on Friday as the No. 8 seed, defeating the fifth-seeded University of Tennessee at Martin, 1-0. The Trojans were strong defensively, holding the Skyhawks to only three shots and zero on goal. Junior defender Mykena Turner recorded the game-winning goal in the 15^th minute when her lengthy free kick bounced off UT Martin's goalkeeper and into the goal.
 
Including Friday's first-round victory, Little Rock has won three of its last four matches, dating back to October 15. The Trojans are 3-1-2 in their last six matches with the only loss during that stretch coming in the conference finale against the OVC regular-season champions and No. 1 seed Tennessee Tech University on October 22. Little Rock was second in the OVC this year with 23 goals and top four in the league with 201 shots.
 
Individually, Little Rock has three players with four goals this season. Sophomore Amaya Arias, senior Karina De Paoli, and redshirt sophomore Bronte Peel top the team with four goals each, as Arias leads the team by a wide margin with 49 shots. In goal, sophomore keeper Peyton Urban and graduate student Marie Cimatti split time in net this season. Urban made the start for the Trojans on Friday and has seen most of the minutes during the 2023 campaign. Urban has a 1.14 GAA with 38 saves and one clean sheet.
 
Sunday will be the third all-time meeting between the two schools and the second matchup this season. During the regular season, Little Rock and Southern Indiana opened the conference schedule with a scoreless tie in Little Rock, Arkansas back on September 21. The teams tied with five shots and two on goal. Little Rock leads the all-time series 1-0-1.
 
Sunday's match can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+. Additional coverage links are available on the USI Women's Soccer schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.