NORMAL, Ill. - The Missouri Valley Conference women's soccer season is winding down as the teams head towards the State Farm MVC Tournament in Omaha in less than two weeks. Illinois State (8-7-1, 3-1-0 MVC) hosts Missouri State (9-5-1, 2-2-0 MVC) Sunday at 1 p.m. in its final MVC home game.
Sunday is also Senior Day for ISU soccer, as the lone Redbird senior, Mel Routledge, will be honored for her years with ISU. Routledge has played in 63 games in her Redbird career with 47 starts. One of the most prolific scorers in ISU history, she ranks second in career points with 49 and career goals with 19 and she is tied for third in career assists with 11.
"Missouri State is a strong defensive team with good goalkeeping, so they typically don't concede a lot of good scoring chances," said ISU head coach Drew Roff. "We need to focus on not only creating chances but also being opportunistic when we do. We have had some balanced scoring this season which is nice to see and it makes us a little bit more unpredictable to defend against. Missouri State defends very well and can also be a very dangerous team on the counter attack. We need to keep the pressure on throughout the game while also not leaving ourselves susceptible to a quick counter. They have a couple of very athletic attacking players that we have to be ready for."
The field is set for the State Farm MVC Tournament with Northern Iowa eliminated from contention with losses in its first five conference games. Entering this weekend, Evansville sits atop the conference standings with a 4-1 record and can clinch at least a share of the conference titles with a win over Creighton in its final conference game Saturday. ISU is tied with Drake for second place with 3-1 records. Both teams have two conference games remaining, including a season-ending meeting next Saturday in Des Moines. Missouri State and Creighton are tied for fourth place at 2-2.
A win over Missouri State this weekend and a Creighton loss would ensure that the Redbirds would finish in the top-three in the conference. If the Redbirds win their last two games, they will clinch at least a share of the conference title, depending on the outcome of the Evansville-Creighton game.
