MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - The IUPUI women's soccer team will hit the road for a second straight match on Wednesday (Mar. 3) when the Jaguars head north to take on Horizon League leader Milwaukee (3-0) at 2:00 p.m. Milwaukee and IUPUI were picked to finish 1-2 in the Horizon League Preseason Poll, as voted upon by the league's head coaches prior to the season.
There will be no video coverage of Wednesday's contest.
Head coach
Chris Johnson's team has dialed up two clean sheets to start the year as sophomore goalkeeper
AP Woodall is a two-time Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week honoree. IUPUI opened the year with a 1-0 home win over Cleveland State thanks to an
Autumn Weeks tally. After a COVID related pause, IUPUI returned to action with a 0-0 double overtime draw at Detroit Mercy on Feb. 24. Led by a stout defensive core that includes senior starters
Natalie McNally,
Morgan Rymer and
Jillian Steinbrink, IUPUI has allowed just 10 shots on goal in front of Woodall in the season's first two games.
Offensively, senior midfielder
Valentine Pursey has a team-high six shot attempts and sophomore
Maya Lacognato has five attempts. Pursey has a team-high three shots on goal and junior midfielder
Elizabeth Bueckers has two on target.
QUOTABLE
"It was a great effort all around. After sitting out three weeks and just getting back to playing, I can't fault the effort. We allowed them a lot of shots from distance, but nothing too dangerous. Offensively, we just didn't convert. (Bueckers) was a real difference maker for us out there all day today. AP was good. She stepped up when she needed to and stopped some of their plays before they even got started. She was really solid back there," head coach
Chris Johnson said after the Jaguars' 0-0 draw at Detroit Mercy.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
IUPUI is 1-0-1 to start the year with shutouts of Cleveland State and Detroit. Sophomore midfielder
Autumn Weeks has the team's lone goal of the season, having tallied the winner against CSU off an assist from
Kamryn Benscoter. McNally has played all 200 minutes in the field for the Jaguars while Steinbrink and Rymer have played 196. In goal, Woodall has been brilliant, posting a 1.000 save percentage with 10 total saves while having yet to yield a score this season.
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 127 career wins on the IUPUI sidelines and 208 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 MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee enters play at 3-0, having outscored their three opponents by a 9-1 margin to start the year. The Panthers boast wins at Robert Morris (5-1), Purdue Fort Wayne (1-0) and Wright State (3-0) to open the season. Mackenzie Schill leads the Panthers' attack with three goals and Natalie Auble and Taylor Hattori have two apiece. Taylor Tabbert has two assists as the Panthers have totaled 12 assists on their nine goals. In goal, Elaina LaMacchia is 3-0 with two shutouts, having yet to allow a goal in her 256 minutes. Behind her, Allie Strottman has played 13 minutes and yielded a score.
VERSUS THE TITANS (see the entire history here)
IUPUI is 0-3-1 all-time against Milwaukee and 0-2-1 in the three meetings in Indianapolis. The lone draw was a pivotal one as IUPUI advanced past Milwaukee on penalty kicks in the 2017 Horizon League Championship match, outlasting the Panthers 4-3 on PK's after a scoreless regulation. Milwaukee won last year's meeting by a 3-0 score in Milwaukee.
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.
