INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's soccer team will host another pivotal showdown on Wednesday (Mar. 17) when the Jaguars welcome UIC (4-1) to the on-campus Michael A. Carroll Stadium for a 1:00 p.m. kick. Wednesday's contest will be broadcast on ESPN3 and attendance is limited to player guests only.
IUPUI (3-0-1) remains unbeaten to start the campaign and has yielded just two goals in the season's first four games. Both of those scores came in IUPUI's most recent outing as the Jaguars rallied from a 2-1 deficit to capture a 3-2 win. Seniors
Josie Denton and
Valentine Pursey tallied goals in the victory to keep the Jags near the top of the Horizon League standings.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we were pretty good. We weren't necessarily as sharp as we'd like to be, but I thought we did some good stuff in terms of playing through
Maya Turner and creating some chances early in getting in behind them. Defensively, we had a couple lapses, but we were good enough to get the job done," head coach
Chris Johnson said following last week's 3-2 win over Wright State.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
IUPUI is 3-0-1 to start the year with wins over Cleveland State, Milwaukee and Wright State and a scoreless draw on the road at Detroit Mercy. Individually, IUPUI has four goals with Pursey, Denton,
Elizabeth Bueckers and
Autumn Weeks having tallies. The Jags have also totaled five assists with
Maya Lacognato,
Maya Turner,
Kamryn Benscoter,
Grace Moore and
Jessica Jacobs each having one. In goal,
AP Woodall has a 0.47 goals against average and .905 save percentage in her four appearances. She and
Natalie McNally are the only two Jaguars to have played all 380 so far this season.
LAST TIME OUT: IUPUI 3, Wright State 2 I
Recap I
Highlights I
Box Score
PRESEASON POLLS
IUPUI was picked to finish second according to the #HLWSOC Preseason Poll released on Feb. 1, trailing only Milwaukee. The Jags went 12-7-1 last season and 6-3 in Horizon League play.
#HLWSOC STANDINGS
RETURNING STARTERS (8)
Elizabeth Bueckers - Jr., MF/F - (5 goals, 1 assist, 2 GWG)
Maya Lacognato - Soph., F - (6 goals, 2 assists, 2 GWG)
Natalie McNally - Sr., D - (2 goals, 1 assist)
Valentine Pursey - Sr., MF/F - (8 goals, 6 assists, 4 GWG)
Miranda Ricks - Sr., MF - (2 goals, 2 assists, 1 GWG)
Morgan Rymer - Sr., MF - (1 assist)
Jillian Steinbrink - Sr., D - (1 goal, 2 assists, 1 GWG)
Autumn Weeks - So., MF/D - (3 goals, 1 GWG)
HONOREES AND LEADERS
Pursey was a first team All-Horizon League selection last season while Lacognato and departed senior goalkeeper Sophia Lipka were voted to the second team. Lacognato, Weeks and
AP Woodall were voted to the All-Freshman Team as IUPUI had a league-best three All-Freshman Team selections. Pursey was fourth in the league with 0.40 goals per game last season and third in the league with 1.10 points per game. Woodall, albeit in limited action, ranked second in the league with a 0.60 goals against average while Lipka was fourth at 1.18. Lipka was third in the league at 4.69 saves per game and had four shutouts.
ON THE SIDELINES
Head coach
Chris Johnson enters his 18th season on the IUPUI sidelines, easily ranking as the longest tenured current head coach among any of the Jaguars' sports. Johnson has 129 career wins on the IUPUI sidelines and 210 in his college head coaching career dating back to the University of Indianapolis where he began coaching in 1994.
NEW FACES
IUPUI has seven new faces on the roster this year in true freshmen
Emma Antoine,
Jessica Jacobs,
Emma Manolovic,
Leah Shumate,
Sam Slimak,
Alex Stocker and
Carlie Werner. The group represents four different states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio) as Antoine (Carmel), Jacobs (Castle) and Werner (Batesville) were in-state recruits. Slimak, Stocker, Shumate, Jacobs and Werner all made their collegiate debuts at Detroit Mercy with Slimak and Stocker earning starts.
SCOUTING UIC
UIC is 4-1 on the year with victories over Oakland (1-0), Youngstown State (2-0), Robert Morris (3-1) and Purdue Fort Wayne (2-0) with the lone loss coming on the road at Wright State (1-2). The Flames are 1-1 on the road this year, having won at Oakland to start the year. UIC has outscored foes by a 9-3 margin and outshot opponents by nearly four attempts per game. Savannah Jackson leads the UIC attack with three goals and Kaitlyn Montague has a team-high four assists. In goal, Lena Kurz has a 0.60 goals against average and .864 save percentage with three shutouts this season.
VERSUS THE FLAMES (see the entire history here)
IUPUI is 4-1 all-time against UIC, having won the last four matches in the series. IUPUI defeated the Flames 2-1 on Oct. 2, 2019 in Indianapolis as Weeks, an Illinois-native, tallied goals in the 15th and 62nd minutes. UIC scored in the 88th minute to cut the lead in half and breakup the IUPUI shutout bid. IUPUI is 3-0 all-time against the Flames in Indianapolis and 1-1 in the two meetings in Chicago.
SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
The Horizon League will compete in a weekly, single round robin format this season, beginning with the Feb. 3 matchups. Teams will play each Wednesday for eight weeks before finishing league play on Tuesday, Mar. 30 and Monday, Apr. 5. The Jags will host matches with Cleveland State (Feb. 3), Robert Morris (Feb. 17), Wright State (Mar. 10), UIC (Mar. 17) and Northern Kentucky (Mar. 30) and face Detroit Mercy (Feb. 24), Milwaukee (Mar. 3), Youngstown State (Mar. 24) and Purdue Fort Wayne (Apr. 5) on the road. The Jaguars' Feb. 10 match at Green Bay has already been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.
ESPN COVERAGE
All five of IUPUI's home matches will be aired on ESPN platforms (either ESPN3 or ESPN+) this season. In addition, selected road matches will also be aired on ESPN platforms at the host schools' discretion.
