NORMAL, Ill. - After claiming the top spot in the Missouri Valley Conference Sunday (Oct. 11), the Illinois State women's soccer team is set to continue Valley play in a midweek game at Northern Iowa Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The Redbirds (7-5-1, 2-0-0 MVC) have won five-straight games and are coming off a 2-1 victory over Creighton to remain undefeated in the conference, while Northern Iowa (2-9-2, 0-3 MVC) is coming off a 2-1 loss to Drake for its seventh-straight defeat.
"Our goal for every conference game is to give great effort and play a consistent 90 minutes of quality soccer," said head coach Drew Roff. "Northern Iowa has not given up a lot of goals this season. So, our execution in the final third of the field will have to be sharp. We are going to have to work for our opportunities, and when we get them, we need to put the ball away. We have yet to get a shutout in conference play, and it is something we need to focus on and strive for to have success."
Freshmen scored both of Illinois State's goals against Creighton. Rachel Bostick and Heather Sterling scored their second goals of the season, while Danielle Mutters recorded two assists on the day, both off free kicks.
MVC Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 12) Jessica Carlson leads the Redbirds in points this season with 17 and eclipsed the Illinois State individual record for points in a game with seven, after scoring three goals and an assist against SIU-Edwardsville (Oct. 7).
Illinois State leads the all-time series against Northern Iowa, 8-1-0. The Redbirds won the first six games of the series before UNI won its first game in 2006. ISU outscored UNI 13-0 in the first four meetings, including a 7-0 win in the first-ever game. Seven of the Redbirds' wins have been shutouts. The last time these two teams met was Oct. 12, 2008, where ISU shutout UNI, 1-0.
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