Eastern Illinois (Aug. 18): Live Stats
at Valparaiso (Aug. 20): Live Stats
INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's soccer team has hemmed up preseason and will open the regular season on Friday night (Aug. 18) when the Jaguars welcome Eastern Illinois to Michael A. Carroll Stadium at 7:00 p.m.. Admission will be FREE of charge for this year's season opener. The Jags will cap the two-game weekend when they play at Valparaiso at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday (Aug. 20).
IUPUI was dumped in its only preseason match, dropping a 3-1 decision at SIUE last weekend. Freshmen
Valentine Pursey and
Jillian Steinbrink teamed up for the lone Jaguars' score with the rookie from England putting a ball in the back of the net in the game's closing minutes. Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper
Sophia Lipka yielded all three goals and played all 90 minutes in net.
Going into the regular season, longtime Head Coach
Chris Johnson is keying on a number of things, including to see how his team gels in the opening weekend. Faced with a roster that includes 10 true freshmen, he knows that growing familiarity will be vital to early season success.
"The familiarity isn't where it needs to be for us to be successful, but it's not bad for this time of year. The more they play together, the more we'll continue to get on the same page and improve in that regard," Johnson said.
Johnson also reconfigured his group of forwards following the loss at SIUE in hopes of sparking the offense this week. As is typically the case in the season's early going, a number of individuals will get opportunities to shine.
"The players off the bench have to be able to come in and raise our level of play," Johnson said. "We don't want to experience a dropoff when we go to our bench."
Players to watch include senior forward
Krissy Kirkhoff and freshman back
Natalie McNally. Kirkhoff, who missed half of last season due to injury, has 23 career goals and 11 assists in just 47 career games. Six of her scores are game-winners, including four coming her freshman year. At the other end of the field, McNally has performed well in the season's early going, earning minutes along the back line.
"She's done well in the preseason and I know Valpo has a couple strong forwards, so I'm interested to see if she can get in there and shut people down and help us get some shutouts," Johnson said.
IUPUI is 2-4-2 in the eight meetings with Eastern Illinois, but has gone 2-0-2 in the last four matchups. The Jaguars won last year's contest 2-1 thanks to goals from Tori Minnich and Catherine Raster. Lipka earned the win in net, playing 38 scoreless minutes as the Jags overcame a 1-0 deficit in the second half. Johnson's program is 4-10-4 all-time against Valparaiso, but hasn't lost to the Crusaders since 2012. IUPUI won last year's meeting 2-0 in Indianapolis as Kirkhoff and Minnich both tallied their first goals of the 2016 season.
Full coverage will be posted to IUPUIJags.com immediately after each match.
