NORMAL, Ill. - The Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship will be on the line this Thursday when Illinois State travels to Omaha, Neb., for a 7 p.m. showdown with Creighton at Morrison Stadium.
"To have three wins in a row is very important for us this time of year," head coach Drew Roff said. "We want to go into big games with confidence and we are finally starting to hit the back of the net. We are going to see if we can play our best soccer of the year when it counts the most and our focus will be on playing a great game Thursday and seeing what happens."
The Redbirds can clinch at least a share of their fourth-straight MVC regular-season championship with a win over the Bluejays. They can win the title outright with a win Thursday and a Missouri State tie or loss to Evansville. However, ISU could potentially finish third in the final conference standings with a loss to CU and a Missouri State win or tie against Evansville. A third-place finish would force the Redbirds to host a play-in game Sunday, Oct. 31, at Adelaide Street Field in the first round of the State Farm MVC Tournament.
"It will be good experience for us to get some time on [Creighton's] field and get to play a game there," Roff said. "Hopefully we will be playing there next week. We have had success on that field before and we are not intimidated by being on the road. One of the reasons that we play such a tough schedule and go into some tough environments is that we know in order to achieve our goal of going to the NCAA Tournament then we are going to have to win at Creighton. They have a real nice facility and a great surface. We enjoying playing on that surface and we just have to play our game Thursday."
Illinois State enters Thursday's contest on a three-game winning streak and with an overall record of 8-6-1 and a 3-1-1 mark in the Valley. After scoring just eight goals in their first 12 games, the Redbirds have found the back of the net seven times in their last three matches. Junior Jessica Carlson has recorded eight points in that three-game span, scoring a pair of goals, and providing four assists. Three of Carlson's points came in Illinois State's 2-1 win over Indiana State Sunday on Senior Day.
Creighton stands at 12-3-2 overall and 4-1-0 in the MVC. The Bluejays are coming off a 2-1 overtime loss to Missouri State that snapped an MVC record 10-match win streak. CU leads the Valley in nearly every offensive category with 39 goals, 30 assists, 261 shots and a +1.59 scoring margin. The Bluejay defense has been just as impressive, surrendering only 12 goals and posting nine shutouts, both Valley-bests.
Creighton's potent offensive attack is led by Brittney Nuemann and Andrew Zuniga, who are tied atop the conference leaderboard with 21 points. Nuemann ranks second in the league with eight goals, while Zuniga ranks third with seven. Alicia Montgomery and Katie Jo Swanson have split time in goal for the Bluejays this season, with Montgomery boasting a goals against average of 0.66 and a 0.877 save percentage to go along with fine shutouts. Swanson has recorded three shutouts so far in her 625 minutes between the posts.
"The biggest change I have seen in Creighton since last season is their overall team speed," Roff added. "As we know, speed is tough to handle and we are familiar with the system they play. They have a lot of speed on the wings and will be looking to get down the field and get some dangerous crosses in. They have a couple of very dangerous attacking players and we are going to do our best to not let those players beat us. We are going to have our hands full, but as individuals and as a team, we all need to chip in and do our best to eliminate their chances. If we can put some pressure on them, then that will be our best answer to the dangerous players they have."
Thursday night will be the 20th meeting between Illinois State and Creighton, with the Redbirds holding a 11-5-3 all-time series advantage. ISU won the last meeting, 1-0, in the title game of the State Farm MVC Tournament, sending Illinois State to its first NCAA Tournament since 2003.
"This matchup is between two really good teams and two really good programs in a winner-take-all situation," Roff said. "We feel good going into this game and our players enjoying playing in big games. Creighton is a quality team every year and I don't need to do a lot to get tell our players what is at stake. We have a lot of young players on this team and for us to win, they can't play like young players. They have a lot of experience, have several games under their belt and it is a tough task to ask them to step up and play at that level, but they are capable of doing it. Over the years, we have had players step up who aren't afraid of the big moment and if we do that Thursday we are going to be in great shape."
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