EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer concludes a three-match homestand on Sunday, squaring off against Northern Illinois University at 1 p.m. from Strassweg Field.
Sunday's game is "Youth Soccer Day" at Strassweg Field. Bring your youth soccer team out to support the Screaming Eagles.
Southern Indiana (1-5-1) is looking to build a winning streak after the Screaming Eagles earned their first win of the season in a 2-0 victory at home against Austin Peay on Thursday. The win snapped a four-match losing streak. After being turned away on a few early first-half chances against the Governors, USI struck in the 39th minute when freshman midfielder
Grace Bamber (Chesterton, Indiana) scored her first career goal on an assist from fellow freshman midfielder
Kerigan Kivisto (Collierville, Tennessee). The goal snapped a 340-minute scoreless drought for USI. The Screaming Eagles scored their second goal in the 81st minute on a nice finish from freshman forward
Pilar Torres (Chula Vista, California) at a tough angle. Thursday was also USI's first shutout of the season, giving sophomore goalkeeper
Anna Markland (Hoover, Alabama) her first career clean sheet.
On the season, Torres paces Southern Indiana with a pair of goals. Torres joins sophomore midfielder
Peyton Murphy (Bargersville, Indiana) with 10 shots on the year to top the squad, which is tied for third in the Ohio Valley Conference. Between the pipes, Markland is second in the OVC with a 1.35 GAA and seventh with 23 saves. As a team, USI is first in the OVC with 34 corner kicks and a 1.29 GAA. Southern Indiana is also second with 61 shots and tied for fourth with four assists. The Screaming Eagles are tied for 52nd in the nation in shot accuracy at 54.1 percent.
The Northern Illinois Huskies (2-2-1) have only a couple of non-conference matches left before the start of Mid-American Conference play. The Huskies are 1-1-1 in their last three contests, coming off a 2-0 road loss last Sunday at Indiana University. NIU mustered only five shot attempts with none on goal against the Hoosiers, surrendering 20 shots and nine on target.
The Huskies have found the back of the net six times this season, averaging 1.2 goals per game and 11.6 shots per match. Northern Illinois has put 24 of 58 shots on goal. Individually, freshman Isabel Struble leads NIU with a pair of goals this season, tying junior Lea Gruennagel with four points. Gruennagel has a goal and two helpers. Three other Huskies have scored a goal in the 2023 campaign. Redshirt senior Sadie McGill has been NIU's starting netminder this season, starting all five matches. McGill has given up only three goals toward a 0.61 GAA. She also has 13 saves and three shutouts.
Sunday's matchup is the second all-time meeting between the two programs. In the first meeting last season, the teams played to a 1-1 tie in DeKalb, Illinois.
The contest on Sunday can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+. Additional coverage links are on the USI Women's Soccer schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
