ROLLA, Mo. – After wrapping up their three-match road trip over the weekend, the Missouri S&T women's soccer team comes back home this weekend to open a critical stretch of their Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule. The Miners (4-4-2, 3-3-2) are currently tied with Lewis for eight in the standings with 11 points with six matches left in the regular season.
 
Four the Miners' final six contests of the regular season will be played at home after beginning the season with six of 10 matches on the road. S&T is 1-0-2 this season, with the win being a 4-0 decision over Southwest Baptist sandwiched between a pair of scoreless draws with Truman State and Rockhurst. This weekend, the Miners will play McKendree for the second time this season Friday evening before hosting Missouri-St. Louis Sunday afternoon.
 
Sydney Gratz (Geneva, IL/Geneva) is Missouri S&T's leading scorer and is tied for third in the GLVC with six goals on the season. The scored the game-winner in overtime Friday night at Lindenwood and got S&T on the board late in the second half Sunday at Maryville, marking the second time this season she has scored in back-to-back games. Her three assists are also tops on the club and her 48 shot attempts lead the conference. Lily Chung (Cottleville, MO/Francis Howell Central) and Paige VanDaele (Cottleville, MO/Francis Howell Central) have turned in stellar freshman campaign's thus far, with each scoring three goals on the season while Chung also has an assist to her credit.
 
Melanie Kulig (Belleville, IL/Belleville West), Lauren Bulcroft (Claremore, OK/Verdigris), Ally Hasken (Freeport, IL/Freeport), Danielle Hopkins (Naperville, IL/Neuqua Valley) and Paige Jackson (St. Louis, MO/Incarnate Word Academy) make of the remaining balance of the Miners' goals this season. Between the pipes, Kristin Steins (Ballwin, MO/Parkway South) has turned in yeoman's work, posting four solo shutouts and combining with Viktoria Johnson (Granite City, IL/Granite City) for two more. The senior has faced 109 shots and made 36 while allowing jut 10 goals, good for a 1.13 GAA in 797:37 of action. Johnson has team time in four matches and has made six saves against 15 shots faced, allowing two goals and posting a 1.20 GAA.
 
Beth Roberts (Lake St. Louis, MO/Liberty) trails only Gratz in assists this season with two to her credit, while Kulig, Allison Cole (Mansfield, TX/Mansfield), Andersyn Foster (Belleville, IL/Althoff Catholic) and Lexi Frederick (Warrenton, MO/Warrenton) each have an assist as well.
 
The Bearcats (9-1-2, 7-1-1) enter Friday's match having won their last six matches by a combined score of 12-4 and currently sit second in the GLVC standings behind Drury. 10 different players have scored this season for McKendree, led by Anna Stiffler who has five goals and has assisted on five more. Reagan Mauch is second on the team with four goals, while Emma Knoebel and Katie Spotanski have three goals each. Riley Ross has two goals to her credit while five other Bearcats have a goal each. Morgan Cervera and Kathleen Kenny are the only players next to Stiffler with multiple assists, as they each have two to their credit, while five others member of the McKendree squad have one assist each.
 
Mercedes King has seen the majority of time in goal this season for McKendree, starting all eight games she has appeared in and registering 13 saves against 47 shots faced while recording a pair of solo shutouts and posting a 0.76 GAA. Abby Tucker has also seen action this season, making four starts in six games and recording 15 saves against 35 shots faced, while posting two shutouts of her own and a 1.06 GAA.
 
The Bearcats and Miners first matchup this season went the way of McKendree, with the defending GLVC champions scoring the game-winner on a penalty kick in overtime. Gratz got the Miners on the board in the second half after trailing 2-0 before VanDaele netted the equalizer to force overtime in the final three minutes of play.
 
UMSL (6-5-1, 4-4-1) currently sits tied for fifth in the GLVC standings with Lindenwood with 13 points. The Tritons are 3-1-1 over their last five matches and got back in the win column Sunday with a 4-0 win at home over Southwest Baptist after falling 4-0 to Drury on Friday. 10 different players have scored for UMSL this season, but just two have found the net on more than one occasion, led by Jaycee Cotton's four goals while Jalyn Richardson has 10 to her credit. A trio of Tritons have multiple assists this season, as Mia Milazzo, Courtney Schreiber and Maya Ware all have two assists each.
 
Brynne Qualley and Paige Schwartz have just about split goalkeeping duties 50-50 this spring, with each making six starts and appearing in eight matches. Qualley has spent 552:45 between the pipes and made 21 saves against 48 shots faced and posting a 1.30 GAA, while Schwartz has seen 550:58 of action and has a team-high 26 saves against 69 shots for a 0.82 GAA and has posted two solo shutouts.
 
Last spring, the Miners knocked off the Tritons in St. Louis 2-1, as a Sydney Gratz (Geneva, IL/Geneva) goal in the 56th minute ended up being the game-winner.