ROLLA, Mo. – Great Lakes Valley Conference play begins for Missouri S&T's women's soccer team this weekend in its effort to reach the win column for the first time this season, as the Miners will play their final non-conference game Friday before opening its conference slate Sunday at Illinois Springfield.

The Miners will play a GLVC team – 16^th-ranked McKendree – in an in-region, non-conference match on Friday at 5 p.m. (the teams will play their conference match Oct. 14 in Lebanon, Ill.), before heading to Springfield, Ill., for the GLVC opener that will begin at noon.

Missouri S&T is currently 0-1-1 on the season, with the loss coming to then top-ranked Grand Valley State and a scoreless tie on Sunday against previously undefeated Washburn.  The Miners are still seeking their first official goal of the season, although it did tally three in the first half of their Aug. 28 match against Missouri Southern that was suspended short of official game status due to weather.

Viktoria Johnson (Granite City, IL/Granite City) has played in all 180 regular season minutes for the Miners and has a 1.50 goals against average on the season.  She made two of her four saves of the season in recording her first shutout in 2022 in Sunday's contest.  The Miners' other three goalkeepers – Anastasia Barcom (St. Louis, MO/Rosati-Kain), Natalie Newman (Kirkwood, MO/Kirkwood) and Delaney Potsmesil – all saw time in goal during S&T's exhibition game last Friday at Lindenwood.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: McKendree comes into Friday's game ranked 16^th in the latest United Soccer Coaches rankings after winning its first three contests of the season, then bumped off Kentucky Wesleyan 5-0 Tuesday night to improve to 4-0.

The Bearcats have outscored their opponents 9-1 this season with goals from six different players; Anna Stiffler scored twice on Tuesday and has a team-best three goals on the year.  Abby Tucker has made eight saves in goal and owns a 0.28 goals against average as she has given up just the one goal in four games.

Illinois Springfield also played Tuesday night, playing to a scoreless tie with Purdue Northwest and will bring a record of 1-2-2 into Sunday's match with the Miners.  The Prairie Stars are winless in their last four games since opening the season with a shutout win over Wisconsin-Parkside.  Sierra Cenek leads UIS with two goals on the year, while goalkeeper Allison Mirimanian has recorded a 1.20 goals against average with 11 saves.