MACOMB, Ill. – University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer captured a 1-0 road victory at Western Illinois University Sunday afternoon after freshman Anna Depenbrock's game-winning goal in the 79^th minute.
 
With Sunday's win, which was USI's (7-7-4, 4-2-3 OVC) fifth road result but first road victory of the season, the Screaming Eagles secured the fifth seed in this coming week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Western Illinois dropped to 1-17-1 overall and 0-8-1 in OVC play to conclude its 2025 season.
 
USI Women's Soccer totaled 27 shots on Sunday, which are the most attempts in USI's D-I era and the most since the 2020-21 spring championship season against the University of Missouri-St. Louis (28). Eight Screaming Eagles had multiple shot attempts in Sunday's match, with senior forward Peyton Murphy leading the way with five shots. Junior forward Erica Cox paced USI with two shots on goal out of three attempts. Depenbrock had three shots, including the game-winning shot into the goal.
 
Meanwhile, USI's defense limited Western Illinois to five shots and only one on goal. The five shots faced matches USI's season low, as the Eagles held Purdue University Fort Wayne to only five shots on September 14.
 
In the first half, USI generated good pressure in the attacking half of the field, earning several corner kicks and taking multiple shot attempts. However, quality looks on goal were hard to come by against the Leatherneck's defense. Murphy, who had three of USI's nine first-half shots, placed the only shot on goal of the first half in the 31^st minute that was saved. The Eagles had a few other chances that just missed outside the frame. The match was scoreless at halftime.
 
The Screaming Eagles turned up the aggression in the second half, tallying a shot on goal within seconds of the second-half kickoff. Later in the second half, Cox continued her solid recent stretch of play and giving the Eagles a boost off the bench. The junior had a nice cutback and shot that forced Western Illinois' keeper to make a high save and another attempt that just went wide of the far post. Cox produced three shots within a five-minute span. USI kept up its pressure as the second half rolled on, with more shots on goal and repeatedly earning set pieces from the corner. USI tallied a season-high 15 corner kicks on Sunday.
 
Eventually, the pressure paid off for the Screaming Eagles in the 79^th minute. Redshirt junior midfielder Emma Thurston won a battle for the ball in the middle of the field, poking the ball up ahead to senior forward Emerson Grafton, who had four shots with one on target in the game. Grafton played the ball forward and led Depenbrock into the top of the box in stride, where Depenbrock slotted it past the Western Illinois goalkeeper to put USI in front, 1-0. Thurston picked up her third assist of the season, while Grafton notched her fourth assist on the year.
 
The goal was not only Depenbrock's first game-winner but her first career goal. The freshman became the 12^th different Screaming Eagle to score a goal this season, which is the most since 12 players scored a tally in 2021. Depenbrock was the fifth freshman to score a goal this season. The last time USI had five freshmen score a goal in a season was in 2018.
 
After taking the 1-0 lead, USI nearly doubled its lead on multiple looks in the final 10 minutes, including a couple of close-range chances from Depenbrock to almost record a brace. However, the Eagles would protect the one-goal advantage and wind down the clock to finalize the road triumph.
 
The 1-0 shutout win was USI's seventh shutout of the season. Freshman goalkeeper Merrick Schwalbach made her second start of the season in goal and recorded her first career clean sheet.
 
Next, USI Women's Soccer will head to its fourth consecutive OVC Tournament later this week. The Screaming Eagles will travel to Charleston, Illinois, for a first-round matchup on Thursday at Noon against eighth-seeded Southeast Missouri State University. USI defeated Southeast Missouri, 2-1, at home in late September. The winner will face the site host and No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois University next Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in the quarterfinals of the OVC Tournament. Tennessee Tech University, which won its fourth straight regular-season championship, earned the top overall seed and will host the semifinal and championship rounds. All games of the OVC Tournament can be seen with a subscription to ESPN+.