UNI Soccer vs. Missouri State
- 1 p.m. | Sept. 25
- Cedar Falls, Iowa | UNI Soccer Field
- ESPN3 | Tim Harwood: Play-by-play, Spencer Steffy: Analyst
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — UNI soccer returns home to try and begin a Missouri Valley Conference winning streak.
The Panthers had a successful first game on the road in Normal against Illinois State. UNI’s offense exploded for three goals after being shutout for four games and hope to do the same against the Bears. Last year the Panthers had a successful game in the rain in Springfield against Missouri State, scoring two goals and shutting out the Bears for their second conference win. UNI will hope to continue the trend by getting its second conference win again this weekend.
THE PANTHERS:
– UNI soccer picked up its first conference win of the season on the road at Illinois State. The Panthers got the offense going with three goals against the Redbirds in their first road game of the year.
– The Panthers snapped their scoreless streak at 408 minutes on Thursday evening. UNI hadn’t scored a goal since Aug. 28 against St. Ambrose before burying one in the 26th minute against Illinois State.
– Junior goalkeeper Caitlin Richards added another shutout to her stat line on Thursday against the Redbirds. Richards made two saves in the win, bringing her shutout total to three on the season, good for fourth in the MVC.
– Junior forward Ashley Harrington scored her first goal of the season on Thursday night. Harrington grabbed the goal for the Panthers in the 26th minute off a misplayed ball from Illinois State’s goalkeeper. She also had an assist on the Panthers second goal.
THE BEARS:
– Missouri State has had a strong start to the MVC season with a win against Evansville and a 1-1 tie against Drake. The Bears continue their road swing with a stop in Cedar Falls before heading to Carbondale for a match with the Salukis.
– The Bears are lead by first year Head Coach Kirk Nelson. Nelson is no stranger to the Bears though as he has been the Associate Head Coach for the past eight seasons. Prior to joining the Missouri State staff, Nelson spent four seasons at the University of Nevada, including one as associate head coach.
– Missouri State has three multi-goal scorers on its squad so far. Midfielder Kaeli Benedict, forward Grace O’Keefe, and forward Joey Fosnow have two goals apiece through 10 games. Fosnow and O’Keefe also have an assist each.
– Along with having multiple goals this season, Fosnow leads the Bears in shots on the season with 23 with 14 shots on goal. Fosnow is tied for the 2nd most shots in the Missouri Valley Conference (2.30 Avg/G).