OPENING WHISTLE
Indiana State concludes its season-opening, eight-match road trip on Friday, September 7 at 4 pm (ET) when they travel to Eastern Illinois. The match will be contested at Lakeside Field in the heart of the EIU campus and will feature live stats provided on GoSycamores.com.
Head coach Julie Hanley, in her third season at the helm, led ISU to their first conference tournament appearance since 2013 after a fourth place finish in the 2016 campaign. She then led the Sycamores to a nail biting penalty kick win over the Drake Bulldogs in the MVC Tournament to secure a spot in the semifinals. Thus far in 2018, she has led the Sycamores to three road wins for the first time since 2015 and is currently on a string of three consecutive road matches without a defeat.
Katie Wells is in the midst of her senior season for the Sycamores. She was named to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Team after taking home second team all-league honors one year ago and first team plaudits as a sophomore. This season she leads the team with four points as she scored a goal at SIU Edwardsville and became just the 15th player in the history of the program to record two assists in one match with her pair at Akron. She scored her 14th career goal at Wright State and currently leads the team with two goals and six points on the season.
Indiana State enjoyed a breakout performance on August 24 at SIU Edwardsville as the Sycamores tallied three first half goals. It was the first time the Sycamores have scored three goals in a half since they did it in both halves last season at Chicago State.
Sophomore Camryn DeGrafft took her first career shot on August 29 at Illinois-Chicago and made it count as she scored from 20 yards out for the game-winning goal against the Flames.
The Valley on ESPN, part of the Missouri Valley Conference's media rights agreement with ESPN, will feature most home soccer matches from all eight MVC institutions on the ESPN+ and the ESPN3 streaming platforms. The HD-quality telecasts are available on the ESPN app. Seven Sycamore games will be featured on ESPN+ while four will be shown live world wide on ESPN3.
MATCH PREVIEWÂ
Indiana State travels to Eastern Illinois on Friday afternoon.
The Sycamores hold a 7-6-3 edge in the all-time series which dates back to 2000 -- the inaugural year for women's soccer at ISU. EIU holds a 3-2-2 advantage in games played in Charleston.Â
Indiana State has won or tied in each of the last eight meetings in the series, including a record of 2-0-1 in Charleston. The last EIU victory in the series came in Charleston on September 5, 2007 -- a 3-0 EIU victory.
Last season, the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw at Memorial Stadium. Katie Wells scored in the 34th minute off the assist from Caitlyn Eddy before Pilar Barrio scored in the 49th minute for EIU. Hannah Sullivan recorded six saves for the Sycamores in the draw.
Danielle Varner Named MVC Defensive Player Of The Week
Varner continued to lead the Sycamore defense with a pair of shutouts and just two goals allowed this week. She was extremely active as she continues to be the front line of defense and limit the amount of shots that opponents are able to get on goal. To wit, the Sycamores faced 40 total shots over the three road games and only 11 were made on goal. That's just 27.5 percent of opponents shots that were made on target. Of those, only two found their way into the back of the net. She added to her contributions with her first goal of the season -- a second half equalizer at Akron which led to a 2-2 draw with the Zips. Indiana State allowed just 0.67 goals per game over the three-game road stretch -- just the two goals against Akron while holding Illinois-Chicago and Wright State to zero.
Road Tested, Road Approved
Indiana State faced three tough matches during the third week of the regular season – much as they have all season long as they are playing each of their first eight matches away this season away from Memorial Stadium. The Sycamores found success on the road with a 2-0-1 record as they have now gone undefeated on the road over three consecutive matches for the first time since 2015. ISU's next game is Friday, September 7 at Eastern Illinois as ISU will look to make it four consecutive games on the road without a defeat for the first time in program history. Indiana State has already won more road games this year (3) than they did later year and it is the most road victories in a single season for the program since 2015. The last time the Sycamores won four on the road came in 2012 and the school record of five road victories happened in 2006.
Youthful Duo Each Record Their First Goals At Akron
Indiana State's Danielle Varner and Sidney Ewing each enjoyed breakout performances on Friday night at Akron as they both put a ball into the back of the net as part of the 2-2 draw against the Zips. Ewing got things going in the 11th minute for the 1-0 lead and Varner then answered a pair of Akron goals with the equalizer in the 54th minute -- a header off a corner kick. It was youth meets veteran experience as both goals were scored by Sycamore underclassmen but both were assisted by crafty veteran Katie Wells.
Katie Wells -- Owning The Sycamore Record Book
Senior Katie Wells, an Indianapolis (Warren Central HS) native currently ranks sixth best in school history with 42 career points scored and third all-time with 0.72 points scored per match. Her 14 career goals are the seventh most in school history. She is sixth on the career points list with 42 and needs five more to catch Claire Hemkens for fifth. She is just one goal away moving up to No. 6 on the ISU goal chart and tying Kate Johnson. She also owns 14 career assists and needs just one more assist to tie Sydney Lovelace for second on the ISU career chart. Wells became the 15th Sycamore to record exactly two assists in a match when she did so at Akron on Friday night. Wells owns a share of the school record from when she had three assists at Chicago State in 2016.
An Ohio State Of Mind
Indiana State found success in the Buckeye state for the first time in a long while. The Sycamores tied with Akron on Friday night but then in Dayton against Wright State on Sunday they picked up their first win in the state of Ohio since a 2006 victory at Cleveland State. It was also the Sycamores' first victory in three all-time matches against Wright State.
What A First Collegiate Shot!
Indiana State sophomore Camryn DeGrafft entered Wednesday night's game at Illinois-Chicago having played 113 career minutes and never taken a shot in nine matches played. That all changed in the blink of an eye in the 32nd minute against the Flames. DeGrafft was the recipient of a cross field pass at the 20 yard mark and instead of making a pass into the large group in front of the net, she took a shot which dropped right over the Flames goalkeeper and into the back of the net. It was DeGrafft's first career shot and she found the back of the net for the game winner against UIC!
Ready Eddy
Indiana State senior Caitlyn Eddy provided a quick strike for the Sycamore offense on August 24 as ISU used a trio of first half goals to own a 3-1 victory over SIU Edwardsville. Eddy's goal was the first of the year for the Sycamores and the first for her personally at Indiana State. It also came in quick fashion as she scored with just 2:24 elapsed off the clock. It was the fourth fastest goal scored in the 18-year history of the ISU women's soccer program and the fastest since Leah Galton found the back of the net against Hofstra in just 84 seconds on September 7, 2014. The fastest goal scored ever at ISU was Alison Gasparovich who scored in a 1:20 against Valparaiso on September 24, 2010.
 Fastest Goals Scored In ISU Women's Soccer History
1:20 Alison Gasparovich vs. Valparaiso 09/24/10
1:24 Leah Galton vs. Hofstra 09/07/14
1:30 Lauren Podolski vs. Northern Iowa 09/29/06
2:24 Caitlyn Eddy at SIU Edwardsville 08/24/18
3:00 Sarah Whiteley vs. Eastern Kentucky 09/07/07
This Ewing Drills For Goals
Indiana State freshman Sidney Ewing continues to emerge for the Sycamores as she recorded three total shots on the week, including a shot on goal at Akron. That shot against the Zips found the back of the net and staked Indiana State to an early 1-0 lead in a match in which ISU went on to a 2-2 draw at Akron. It was Ewing's first collegiate goal and she now has three points on the year.
The Great Sycamore Road Show
Indiana State exhibition contest at Purdue on August 8 began a nine-match road trip that concludes on September 7 at Eastern Illinois. That puts each of the Sycamores' first eight regular season contests at the road leading up to the home opener on September 9 against Rose-Hulman. ISU travels to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Iowa over the eight-match swing. The Sycamores are 1-2-1 so far with a big win coming on August 24 at SIU Edwardsville.
UP NEXTÂ
The Sycamores make their home debut on Sunday, September 9 when they host Rose-Hulman at 3 pm (ET).
