INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI women's soccer team will return home to kickoff a two-game homestand on Wednesday (Mar. 10) when the Jaguars host Wright State at 1:00 p.m. inside the on-campus Michael A. Carroll Stadium. Wednesday's contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and fan attendance will be limited to player guests only.
IUPUI (2-0-1) has been opportunistic to start the 2021 Spring campaign, riding a pair of goals to 2-0-1 mark while having yet to yield a score thus far. Most recently, the Jags snapped some long Milwaukee winning streaks with a 1-0 road victory against the Panthers last Wednesday. Milwaukee-native
Elizabeth Bueckers tallied her first goal of the season in the Jaguars' victory, netting her a second career #HLWSOC Offensive Player of the Week Award. Sophomore defender
Grace Moore setup the winner with a free kick for her first career point.
In goal, sophomore
AP Woodall registered her third shutout to start the season, extending her personal scoreless streak to 299 minutes, dating back to last season. Woodall had three career shutouts entering this season, but has since matched that total, dropping her career goals against average to 0.40 in the process.
QUOTABLE
"I grew up watching girls play on that field and being able to score the winner in such an intense game was just unreal," Bueckers said of tallying the game-winner at Milwaukee, snapping the Panthers run of 31 straight games without a home loss and 36 regular season Horizon League matches without a defeat.
SCOUTING THE JAGUARS
IUPUI is 2-0-1 to start the year with shutouts of Cleveland State, Detroit and Milwaukee. Bueckers and sophomore midfielder
Autumn Weeks have the team's two goals of the season and Moore and senior
Kamryn Benscoter have the squad's assists.
Valentine Pursey and
Maya Lacognato have attempted a team-high seven shots each and Bueckers and freshman
Sam Slimak have six each. McNally has played all 290 minutes in the field for the Jaguars while
Morgan Rymer has played 286. In goal, Woodall has been brilliant, totaling 14 saves in her three shutouts to start the year.
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 128 career wins on the IUPUI sidelines and 209 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 WRIGHT STATE
Wright State is 2-2 this season with home wins over Detroit Mercy (2-1) and UIC (2-1) and road losses at Cleveland State (1-2) and Milwaukee (0-3). For the year, the Raiders have been outscored by a 7-5 margin and outshot 62-38. WSU's five goals have come from five different sources while the Raiders' three assists have come from three different players. Josie Krupp and Olga Massombo pace the Raiders with three points each while Krupp and Kaley Mincy have the team's game-winners. In goal, Jessika Seward has started all four matches and has a 1.68 goals against average and 24 saves against 31 shots on goal.
VERSUS THE RAIDERS (see the entire history here)
IUPUI is 2-8 all-time against Wright State, but has won two of the past three meetings in the series, including a 3-0 outcome in the 2019 season. Pursey scored twice in that contest and Bueckers added some late insurance. Emma Chambers,
Abbie Schad and Lipka all had assists and Lipka also made nine saves in goal.
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.
