After claiming the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship with a perfect mark of 6-0, the Illinois State soccer team looks to claim its first Iron Kids Bread/MVC Soccer Championship title this weekend.
The top-seeded Redbirds take on fifth-seeded Southwest Missouri State, who advanced to the second round with a 3-1 win over Drury on Sunday, Friday at 5 p.m. at Sportport in Maryland Heights, Mo.
They (Southwest Missouri State) are not going to be happy with the way the first game with us went, head coach Pete Kowall said. Wed like to beat them and get into the finals. Weve had a good week of training and we know that there is more that we would like to achieve.
In the regular season, the Birds (13-4 and 6-0 in the MVC) shutout the Bears (9-8-1, 2-4), 4-0, in Springfield, Mo., but SMS has had ISUs number the past two years during the conference tournament. Last season in the semifinals, SMS got past Illinois State 1-0 in overtime. In 1999, the two teams battled through four overtimes and SMS prevailed in a shootout, 4-3, ousting the Redbirds in the semifinals.
For the past two years we have lost in the semifinals to Southwest Missouri so this is a big game for us, junior forward Annie Wayland said. Weve made it this far and worked this hard and lost to the same team both years. Were going out there with the attitude that we can do it. We have to think positively and stay motivated to get the victory and move on into the finals.
The winner of the ISU vs. SMS game will advance to the finals to play the winner of the Creighton and Evansville game. Kickoff for the title game is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday at Sportport and will be televised on Fox Sports Net Midwest, with the champion advancing to the NCAA College Cup.
Winning the tournament is the one thing we havent done yet, Kowall added. We hope we are destined to this weekend.
