EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer continues Ohio Valley Conference play Sunday when the Screaming Eagles travel to Morehead State University for a Noon (CT) kickoff.
 
Just past the halfway point of the OVC season, Southern Indiana is 2-8-4 overall and 1-2-2 in the OVC while Morehead State is 6-5-3 on the season and 3-2-0 in conference play. USI is tied for fifth in the standings while Morehead State is fourth.
 
USI continues to trek through a gauntlet in the middle portion of the conference schedule. The Screaming Eagles are in a stretch of four matches against the top four teams in the OVC standings. Last week, Southern Indiana fell to Lindenwood University and Tennessee Tech University, the second and third-place teams. Following Sunday's match against Morehead State, USI will host first-place University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
 
Southern Indiana looks to bounce back from last week's setbacks. Last time out, USI dropped a 4-1 decision at home against Tennessee Tech. The Screaming Eagles made early noise when junior forward Payton Seymour scored her second goal of the season nearly five minutes into the game to give USI an early 1-0 lead. However, the Golden Eagles answered with three consecutive first-half goals and one more in the final minutes of the second half.
 
USI was outshot by Tennessee Tech 14-5 overall and 9-2 in shots on goal. The five shot attempts by USI were a season low, and Sunday was also the second consecutive match that USI was limited to two shots on goal. Southern Indiana will seek to regain its offensive spark from earlier in the conference season this Sunday against Morehead State.
 
Eight different players have scored a goal this season for Southern Indiana, and following Seymour's goal last Sunday, five players have scored twice this season. Junior midfielder Emerson Grafton leads USI with seven points off two goals and three assists. Sophomore midfielder Pilar Torres tops the squad with 18 shots and five assists, which ranks third in the OVC. In conference play, USI is third in the OVC in goals and assists.
 
Morehead State is coming off a 1-0 win against the University of Tennessee at Martin in a low-scoring shootout. The Eagles scored a 39^th-minute goal that held the rest of the game, but two of the top-shooting teams in the conference had plenty of shooting chances. The two sides combined for 40 shots and 21 shots on goal.
 
Morehead State is top two in the conference in shots, shots on goal, and goals scored. Defensively, the Eagles have been just as strong, ranking second in fewest goals allowed.
 
Sophomore forward Hedda Ornberg paces Morehead State with five goals and 12 points. Ornberg is also Morehead State's top shooting threat with a team-high 30 shots and 22 shots on target. The Eagles have three other players with three goals this season. In the net, freshman goalkeeper Lilly Bailey has been Morehead State's netminder during conference play. Bailey has eight starts this season with a 1.17 GAA, 34 saves, and two shutouts.
 
Sunday's match is the third all-time meeting between Southern Indiana and Morehead State. The two sides have split the first two meetings with the home team winning each contest. USI claimed a 2-1 victory at home last season while Morehead State captured a 1-0 win in the first all-time meeting in 2022.
 
Sunday's game can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+. Additional coverage links are available on the USI Women's Soccer schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.