THURSDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 0, Valparaiso 0
@North Dakota 1,
Southern Indiana 0
@Morehead State 1, Central Michigan 0
Lindenwood 2, @Southern Illinois 0
IUPUI 1,
@Tennessee Tech 0
@SIUE 2, Indiana State 1
@Missouri 1,
Southeast Missouri 0
@Memphis 6,
Little Rock 1
EASTERN ILLINOIS 0, VALPARAISO 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A clean sheet to open the season as Eastern Illinois women’s soccer posted a 0-0 draw against preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Valparaiso on Thursday afternoon to open the 2022 season at Lakeside Field.
Goalkeeper Daniela Bermeo posted four saves in net for the Panthers. It marked the second time in the last five seasons that EIU has played Valpo to a 0-0 draw to open a season. The two schools also opened the 2018 season with a 0-0 decision.
Molly O’Rear had two of the Beacons shots on goal as Valpo finished with a 15-10 total shots advantage.
EIU would have two shots on goal coming from Jenna Little and Kenzie Balcerak. EIU had one final chance in the final 10 seconds with Nikki Coryell turning away the opportunity for one of her two saves for Valpo.
The Panthers return to action on Sunday hosting Purdue Fort Wayne at 3 p.m. at Lakeside Field.
NORTH DAKOTA 1, SOUTHERN INDIANA
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - University of Southern Indiana Women's Soccer opened their NCAA Division I era and their 2022 regular season at the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Thursday. Despite outshooting North Dakota in the match, Southern Indiana came up just shy in a 1-0 loss.
Kicking off the match early due to bad weather in the forecast in Grand Forks, North Dakota, both teams came out with early looks in the attacking third of the field.
Each squad put a shot on target within the first handful of minutes, both saved by each respective team's goalkeeper. The Screaming Eagles' defense were involved in the attack early, as freshman defender Abby Rhoutsong (Newburgh, Indiana) and graduate senior defender Elizabeth Lippert (Lexington, Kentucky) each put a shot on goal that was saved by North Dakota's senior goalkeeper Madi Livingston.
North Dakota scored first in the 26th minute with a diving header by freshman forward Amelia Loeffler off a corner kick assist from sophomore defender Julia Briggs.
After a relatively quiet start to the second half, USI took three shots within the 63rd minute but could not find a window toward the back of the goal. Another shot later in the second half by senior forward Taylor Hall (Grayson, Kentucky) was saved by Livingston, who finished with five saves on 11 shots faced for North Dakota. USI also had four of their five corner kicks in the second half.
Overall, Southern Indiana outshot North Dakota 11-7, including a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Junior midfielder Avery Schone (Galena, Ohio) and senior defender Alyssa Wright (Sellersburg, Indiana) led USI with two shots each. Senior goalkeeper Maya Etienne (Midland, Michigan) made three saves on seven shots faced in net.
Next up, the Screaming Eagles (0-1-0) will travel to Winona, Minnesota to take on the Winona State Warriors (0-0-0) Saturday at 1 p.m. Live video coverage at Winona State can be found online at nsicnetwork.com.
LINDENWOOD 2, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 0
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Lindenwood women's soccer team (1-0-0, 0-0-0 OVC) began its Division I campaign with a 2-0 shutout win over Southern Illinois University (0-1-0, 0-0-0 MVC) on Thursday night from Carbondale, Ill.
After a pair of early shot attempts from the Salukis in the opening half, Lindenwood settled into the game in what became a defensive-minded first 45 minutes of play. The Lions generated two shots, one each by Mia Corrigan and Madelyn Barton. Each shot was on goal, but saved by the SIU keeper, as the match was tied 0-0 at halftime.
Lindenwood took the lead in the 54th minute when Rachel Jackson found the back off the net off of a free kick near the corner flag. SIU pushed back after the goal, but Sam Blazek made a pair of saves to keep it 1-0. The Lions doubled their lead in the 60th minute when Mia Corrigan buried a shot that was assisted by Lily Sutter.
Lindenwood was able to see the result out and hold on for the 2-0 victory in the season-opener, picking up its first victory at the Division I level.
The Lions will welcome Nebraska Omaha to Hunter Stadium on Sunday for their first Division I home game. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
IUPUI 1, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
SIUE 2, INDIANA STATE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Sydney Christopher buried a shot in the box in the 89th minute Thursday as SIUE women's soccer defeated Indiana State 2-1 in its season opener at Ralph Korte Stadium.
Christopher scored from six yards out on the left side past ISU goalkeeper Tara Hoffman immediately after she made a save off a shot from SIUE's Mary Fetter.
SIUE opened the scoring quickly for the 2022 season when Grace Cobb scored on a pass from Christopher just 3:08 into the contest.
Burton credited Christopher, Cobb and Mario Haro with having top-notch games in the opener. SIUE outshot the Sycamores 10-6.
Taylor Spiller collected the win in goal for the Cougars, yielding only a penalty kick goal to Mackenzie Kent at 49:50.
Burton said ISU came out with more energy in the second half, but his team was able to respond in the end to the adversity.
This homestand continues Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest against IUPUI.
MISSOURI 1, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Recap coming soon.
MEMPHIS 6, LITTLE ROCK 1
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.