EVANSVILLE – After picking up the first conference victory of the season a week ago, the University of Evansville women's soccer team will be hoping to keep it going on Sunday as the Aces are set to host Northern Iowa at Arad McCutchan Stadium.
UE vs. Northern Iowa (Sunday, 1 p.m.): Live Stats |
The Valley on ESPN3 |
UNI Website
The match, which will see the Aces (2-9-1) aiming to go 2-0-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play, will also serve as the team's annual Multiple Sclerosis Awareness match. The team will wear its orange uniforms, and fans are also encouraged to don orange as well in support of both the Aces and MS awareness. The first 100 fans through the gates will receive a free orange shirt.
UE, meanwhile, will be looking to build on a match at Drake last week that saw the team put a halt to a nine-match winless streak. Colleen Dierkes' 65
th-minute strike proved enough for the victory, thanks in large part to a defense that picked up its second clean sheet away from home this season.
Whitney Biggs, the MVP of last season's conference championship, has three shutouts on the season so far, and she'll be looking to get back to the form that saw her hold some of the conference's best to 200 scoreless minutes a year ago as UE played host the tournament at McCutchan Stadium.
Biggs has had plenty of help from her defense as well, highlighted by the contributions of Samantha Brown last week, who cleared a ball off the line before assisting the match-winner. Earlier this week, the freshman out of Glendora, Calif., was named the MVC's Defensive Player of the Week.
On the opposite end of the field, the Aces will be hoping that Bronwyn Boswell can regain her scoring touch. The all-conference first-teamer bagged all five of her goals in the opening month of the season, but she's not scored since Sept. 8. Boswell's five goals currently rank second in the MVC, trailing just Illinois State's Lauren Koehl, who has found the back of the net seven times.
UNI, which is also 1-0-0 in conference play, will be hoping to limit Boswell's chances with a stout defense that's riding a streak of three consecutive clean sheets. The Panthers are 7-4-1 on the year and have won four consecutive matches, which includes a 1-0 decision in Valley play over Missouri State.
Kickoff on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m.
NOTES: Bronwyn Boswell is tied for ninth in school history with 19 career goals … She's one away from moving into a tie with Shelean Roylance for the eighth-best total … UE is 12-3-2 all-time against Northern Iowa … The Aces have won four of the last five meetings with the Panthers, including a 1-0 MVC tournament win last season … The only loss was a 1-0 regular season loss last year … UE is 21-13-2 all-time versus schools from the state of Iowa and 1-2-0 all-time on Oct. 2.
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