NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State soccer team (1-2-0) will continue in-state rivalries with Northern Illinois (0-3-0) and DePaul (0-4-0) this weekend, when it hosts the Huskies Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., before traveling to Chicago, Sunday, for a 1 p.m. contest with the Blue Demons.
ISU is coming off a 3-2 loss to Boston last Friday in its only game of the weekend, after Hurricane Irene forced the Redbirds' to return home from their East Coast swing a few days early. After falling behind, 3-0, Illinois State mounted a second-half rally and got a pair of goals from freshman Rachel Tejada, but the comeback bid would fall a goal short. Senior Jessica Carlson became ISU's career assists leader in the defeat, when she recorded her 14th-career assist on Tejada's second goal.
"Last weekend was a positive weekend for us," head coach Drew Roff said. "We played hard for 90 minutes against a very good opponent. In the first half we played them pretty even and in the second half they were able to get a couple goals, but we fought back. It was a bummer that we couldn't get through the second half without some of those mistakes, but we learned a lot about ourselves in that game."
For the second-consecutive week, Tejada was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week and currently leads the Valley with 10 points and four goals and is tied for the league lead with two assists and 11 shots. Carlson and sophomore Anna Stinson each recorded their second assists of the season in the loss to BU, and have a share the conference lead in that category.
Northern Illinois will bring a 0-3-0 record to Normal, Ill., Friday after dropping a pair of games to South Dakota State and North Dakota last weekend in DeKalb, Ill. The Huskies have yet to find the back of the net this season, but are outshooting their opponents, 32-30. NIU was tabbed fifth in the West Division in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll and returns seven starters from last year's team that finished 9-9-1.
"Northern Illinois is always a team that plays very hard and they are physical and well organized," Roff said. "They are going to be ready to play us and it is very important that we bring intensity into the game Friday. We are on our home field and we need to bring intensity. If we do that, we will be in good shape, but we also need to start strong. We haven't scored much in the first half and we need to come out and be ready to go right away."
DePaul will have a full week off before hosting ISU Sunday and will also be looking for its first win of the season. The Blue Demons are 0-4-0 this season, with losses to Iowa, nationally-ranked Milwaukee, Michigan State and Michigan. Morgan Celaya has netted the only goal of the season for DePaul and goalkeeper Claire Hanold has tallied 23 saves in net. The Blue Demons were selected sixth in the National Division in BIG EAST preseason poll, after going 11-9-2 last season and return eight starters from their 2010 squad.
"DePaul is a team that is going to play a very physical game," Roff said. "They have a lot of very good athletes and have a lot of team speed. We need to match them physically, but we need to make sure we play our game and our style. If we control the tempo and control possession we will give ourselves a good chance to win, but this is a big weekend for us."
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