MVC Women's Soccer Championship Page
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State soccer team (12-5-2, 5-0-1 MVC) defeated Northern Iowa (8-7-3, 2-2-2 MVC), 2-0, with back-to-back goals in the last 10 minutes of the action to conclude the regular season Thursday night in Missouri Valley Conference action at Adelaide Street Field.
"We are incredibly proud of finishing the league season undefeated," head coach Eric Golz said. "We put in another solid performance tonight against a well-coached UNI team. Our players and staff deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the progress that this team has made this season."
Despite outshooting UNI, 12-3, in the first half, both teams went into halftime scoreless. The second half started much like the first, scoreless until the last 10 minutes of the match.
In the 79th minute, Kelli Zickert sent a rocket shot outside the 18-yard box that deflected of the crossbar, which landed to the foot of Brianne Richards, who buried it in the back of the net. Just a minute later at the 80-minute mark, Zickert capitalized of a cross from Lauren Koehl to give Illinois State a 2-0 lead. The defense held for the Redbirds, as they remain unbeaten in the league play as well as in their last 12 contests.
Overall, ISU finished with a 29-7 advantage in shots, with 10 on goal, while forcing UNI's Maddie Lesjak to make eight saves. Haley Smith made four crucial saves and tallied her seventh clean sheet of the season.
"We now look forward to preparing for what will be a very competitive MVC tournament," Golz said. "We can't wait to play again in front our fans here at ISU. We know that the students will come out to create a real home field advantage for us."
The Redbirds will host the 2016 MVC Women's Soccer Championship next weekend at Adelaide Street Field. ISU, who is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, earned a bye to next Friday's semifinals and will play the winner of the quaterfinal match between No. 4 Indiana State and No. 5 Drake, which is set to take place Sunday, Oct. 30, in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Redbirds' semifinal match Friday, Nov. 4, will begin at approximately 6 p.m.
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