Rolla, Mo. – Missouri S&T's women's soccer begins a stretch where it'll play six of its next eight contests at home beginning this weekend. S&T will welcome Illinois Springfield on Friday night for a 5 p.m. kickoff and will then host McKendree on Sunday afternoon beginning at 12 p.m.
S&T (1-5, 0-1 GLVC) looks to break a four game losing streak when it hosts the Prairie Stars. The Lady Miners have won the last two meetings against the Stars defeating them 1-0 in 2013 at Springfield, Ill., and 2-0 last season in Rolla.
S&T will also look to break a nearly 200 minute scoreless streak after being shutout in back to back games last weekend at Southern Indiana and 18
th ranked Bellarmine.
Julie Bride (Stilwell, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) and
Mikaela Mockenhaupt (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) lead the offense with a goal apiece.
Illinois Springfield enters play this weekend having won two straight after dropping its first four contests of the season. The Prairie Stars earned their first win of the season last Tuesday defeating Judson University 1-0 on the road and then defeated William Jewell by that same score at home this past Sunday. The Stars were also scheduled to host Rockhurst last Friday but that game was postponed due to weather.
UIS has scored seven goals on the season but have conceded nine through the first six games. Karissa Rogers and Nikki Auble have combined for five goals and three assists while Rogers has taken nearly 40 percent of the team's shots and nearly half of its attempts on goal.
Paige Polonus has played every minute in goal with a goals against average of 1.42 while making 31 saves and has posted three shutouts.
McKendree enters Friday's match at Drury having won three straight and four of its last five after picking up a pair of wins at home this past weekend against William Jewell and Rockhurst. The Bearcats scored four goals in the first 26 minutes of the contest against the Cardinals and held on for a 4-2 win after WJC scored twice in the second half. Chelsea Whittaker scored twice for McKendree in the win.
On Sunday against Rockhurst the Bearcats scored the game winner in the 55
th minute to defeat the Hawks 1-0.
Whittaker leads the McKendree attack having scored three goals and assisted on two others for a total of eight points. Alyssa Patterson and Alyssa
Reiniger have two goals apiece on the season. The Bearcats have outscored their opponents 11-6 and posted two shutouts.
Taylor Zerbe has played every minute in goal with 0.96 GAA and has made 34 saves.
