EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer kicks off Sunday's doubleheader action against Eastern Illinois at 1 p.m. USI carries a four-match unbeaten streak into play Sunday.
Southern Indiana (2-6-3, 1-0-1 OVC) heads into Sunday's tilt against Eastern Illinois (2-5-4, 0-1-1 OVC) with a pair of wins and two ties in its last four matches. USI has a win and a tie toward four points to start conference play in the last week. The Screaming Eagles are tied for second in the young OVC season.
After starting conference action with a draw and a point last Sunday at Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Indiana followed with a big 4-1 win on Thursday against the University of Tennessee at Martin. Despite battling heavy rain for the second time in as many weeks, USI's offensive came out of the gates aggressively with a flurry of shots and scoring first in the 15
th minute. The Eagles tacked on two more goals before halftime to take a 3-0 lead and scored the first goal of the second half. UT Martin scored once in the second half but was held in check the rest of the game.
On Thursday, four different Screaming Eagles found the back of the net. Junior midfielder
Peyton Murphy scored her first goal of the season, while junior midfielder
Emerson Grafton tallied her second on the campaign. Seconds before halftime, senior midfielder
Adriana Berruti scored her first career goal. In the second half, junior defender
Charli Grafton registered her first of the season, marking the first time both Grafton sisters scored in the same game.
As a team, Southern Indiana posted season highs with 13 points, four goals, five assists, and 20 shots against the Skyhawks. The 20 shots were the most for the Eagles since USI had 21 last season in a 1-1 tie at UT Martin. Defensively, USI held one of the top-shooting teams in the OVC to only nine shots, the fewest by a USI opponent this season.
On the season, eight different players have scored a goal with
Emerson Grafton, sophomore midfielder
Greta Ohlwein, and redshirt freshman
Eva Boer having two goals each. Sophomore midfielder
Pilar Torres has surged ahead to lead USI with 15 shots after notching six shots in the team's two OVC games. Additionally, Torres paces USI with four assists after collecting two assists in the win against UT Martin. The last time a Screaming Eagle had a pair of assists in a game was in August 2022 when Morgan Beyer and Jill DiTusa each had two helpers against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. In goal, redshirt sophomore
Anna Markland has a 1.82 GAA and 38 saves.
Eastern Illinois opened its conference slate with a 5-1 loss to Morehead State University last Sunday and a scoreless draw against Lindenwood University on Thursday. The Panthers had eight shots and three on goal while the Lions totaled 16 shots and seven on target.
Sophomore forward Alex Tetteh is Eastern Illinois' top attacker this season with three goals, six points and 19 shots. Fellow sophomore forward Abby Reinl has two goals on the year and tops the squad with 10 shots on goal. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Ashlyn Hoover made the first 10 starts this season in net, posting a 1.80 GAA and 39 saves, but sophomore keeper Ella Kratochvil made the last start against Lindenwood with seven saves in the shutout.
As a team, the Panthers have scored eight times this season and average 8.1 shots per outing. EIU has put nearly half of its shots on goal with four shots on goal per contest.
Sunday's match is the third all-time meeting between Southern Indiana and Eastern Illinois. USI won the first meeting in the last matchup at Strassweg Field in 2022, 2-0. On that day, which was the final day of the regular season, USI clinched its first-ever OVC Tournament berth. Last season, the Panthers got their revenge with a 2-1 home win in Charleston, Illinois.
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.
