NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State women's soccer team will travel to DeKalb, Ill., Friday, for a match with in-state rival Northern Illinois, before returning home to Adelaide Street Field, Sunday, for a home contest with Iowa State. The Redbirds will play the Huskies at 2:30 p.m. at the NIU Soccer Complex in the second game of a tripleheader, before welcoming the Cyclones to Normal, Ill., for a 5 p.m. matchup.
Illinois State is coming off a win over Big 12 opponent Kansas and will take a 3-2-0 record into Friday's match at Northern Illinois. Last Sunday's 2-1 win over the Jayhawks was the first win in program history for the Redbirds over a team from the Big 12. Junior forward Jessica Carlson, who was named Missouri Valley Conference Offensively Player of the Week, scored both goals for ISU in the victory and leads the team with a pair of goals and four points.
"After winning two tough games at home, I feel that our players' confidence is high," head coach Drew Roff said. "There are still some things we need to work on this week to get prepared. We really want to try and build off the Kansas game. We got the result we wanted and played well, but this time of year there is still a lot of room for growth and we are doing everything we can to get ready for that Missouri Valley Conference opener."
Northern Illinois stands at 2-2-0 this season with a pair of wins over Missouri Valley Conference teams Creighton and Northern Iowa. The Huskies were selected fifth in the Mid-American Conference West Division Preseason Poll and return six starters from last year's squad that finished 5-11-3. NIU is led by Kelsey Passaglia, who leads the team with two goals and four points.
"Northern Illinois is a team that traditionally does not give up a lot of goals, they are stingy in the back and similar to the other MAC teams, they will be well-organized and play really hard," Roff said. "Our job is to match their intensity and move the ball in a way that will create chances and put them home. I feel like we have created a lot of chances in our first few games, but we haven't converted as high of a percentage as I would like. We are looking forward to the challenge. We love being at home, but we know that we have to be better of the road to have success in the Missouri Valley Conference."
Iowa State is unbeaten in its first six games and owns a 4-0-2 record. The Cyclones have scored seven goals and recorded four shutouts in those six matches. Freshman Emily Goldstein leads the team with two goals and five points so far this season. Iowa State was selected 11th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll and will play Loyola-Chicago, Friday, before traveling to Normal, Ill., for Sunday's contest with the Redbirds. Sunday's game at Illinois State will be the seventh-straight road game for the Cyclones.
"Iowa State is off to a fast start, they have a lot of confidence and they are playing very well," Roff said. "Back in 2008, we saw a team that was big and athletic and you need those types of players if you are going to compete in the Big 12. They are going to be one of those teams that keep coming at us for the full 90 minutes. We need to match their intensity and player a similar game to the one we played against Kansas. In 2008, I thought we played them very well at their place, we got a lot of opportunities, but we just couldn't convert. It will be another great test and we want to show that we can consistently be a quality team."
Friday's game at Northern Illinois will mark the 12th all-time meeting between the Redbirds and Huskies. Illinois State has won seven of the last eight matches between the two in-state rivals and holds a 7-3-1 advantage in the series. The Redbirds defeated NIU, 1-0, last season in Normal, on Carlson's goal in the 64th minute. The Redbirds and Cyclones will meet for the fifth time in program history, Sunday. Iowa State won the last meeting between the two squads, 1-0, in Ames, Iowa, in 2008 and leads the all-time series, 3-0-1.
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