The Illinois State womens soccer team opens its conference season at Northern Iowa Friday at 4 p.m. The Birds will be looking for just their second win on the road this season; Illinois State owns a road record of 1-3-1.
Head coach Pete Kowall and his team are hoping to get the conference season started on the right foot.
Its exciting since this is our first league game and its on the road, Kowall said. This is another game that were going to try and win. Were going to try and play better than we did in our last outing. Northern Iowa is a good team, theyre well coached and they have a good record so it will be a tough match-up.
Fridays game will be the first conference contest for both teams. The Panthers presently own the best record in the MVC at 6-2, including a 2-1 record at home. They have scored 12 goals this season, which ties them with Creighton for the conference lead in goals scored. ISU has only put four goals on the board this season.
In the 2002 conference regular season, Illinois State finished in second place with a record of 5-1-1. The Panthers, who were 5-13-1 overall, were fifth in the conference at 3-4.
Northern Iowa and Illinois State have both faced Wisconsin-Green Bay this year. Northern Iowa fell to the Phoenix on Sunday, 1-0, and in Illinois States first game of the season, the Redbirds defeated UW-Green Bay, 2-0.
The Redbirds have faced the Northern Iowa Panthers three times and the Redbirds have walked away the victor each time. Last year the Birds defeated UNI 2-0, part of ISUs 7-0 start to the 2002 campaign. Like this year, Northern Iowa was Illinois States first conference opponent. The Redbirds have shut out the Panthers in each meeting, 3-0 in 2001 and 7-0 in 2000. The 7-0 win in 2000 was the largest margin of victory the Redbirds have enjoyed in program history.
