NORMAL, Ill. – History will happen Thursday night for Illinois State soccer. The newly installed lights at Adelaide Street Field will be turned on for the first night match in program history, as ISU welcomes Idaho to town in the final regular season match.
Much of the hype surrounds the lights and the benefits they can bring the soccer program. Thursday will be the Redbirds' first taste of "primetime" in Normal and the team is expecting a crowd. If nothing else, it's one of the last few times to catch the eighth-ranked team in the Great Lakes Region.
ISU enters the match 12-5 and coming off a 2-0 win against Drake last Saturday. For the second-straight year the Redbirds went a perfect 6-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference and will enter the MVC Tournament as the number one seed.
The Redbirds made a clean sweep of the weekly conference awards. Rachel Tejada scored the game-winning goal and assisted the other, which earned her Offensive Player of the Week. Tejada's assist broke the MVC all-time assists record. Abby Van Deventer was named Defensive Player of the Week, while Aryn Newsom picked up her second Goalkeeper of the Week award this season.
Thursday's match serves as the final tune-up before the MVC Tournament, which will be hosted by Illinois State. The Redbirds have won the last three tournaments and are trying to become the second program in the Valley to win four-straight.
Kickoff Thursday night is scheduled for 7 p.m. The first 150 fans will receive a free pair of red sunglasses and the ISU starting lineup will throw out free Redbird scarves following starting lineups.
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