EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – West-side soccer fans, get excited for next week! That’s because USI women‘s soccer is postseason-bound! The Lady Eagles’ will host the first two rounds, of the OVC Tournament!
Now their overall record is just 5-8-5, but their conference record, is a very solid, 4-2-3. Things have really come together well for Eric Schoenstein’s club, since the conference season began, as they started league play, with a win and two draws, and then got red hot, the last three weeks, going unbeaten in that stretch, with three wins and one tie.
All that, earned them a fourth-place finish in the Ohio Valley Conference, a first round tournament bye, and a quarterfinal home match.
“It‘s huge, to sit there and not jump on a bus on Tuesday to drive for a Thursday game and sit in a hotel for potentially five days, when you can sleep in your own bed,” said USI women’s soccer head coach, Eric Schoenstein. “You can train at your own facilities, go to class and be in a routine. That’s huge, so we knew what was on the line. We knew we needed a result, and then we obviously did a tremendous effort and got the 3-0 win. So here we are hosting for the second year in a row, that’s huge. Now last year, we got beat by a better team, so now it’s about focusing on winning that quarterfinal and making it to the final four for the first time.”
“We do not want to drive anywhere, at least the first couple rounds. We want to play here again,” said USI junior, Peyton Murphy. “We didn’t want the seniors to have this be their last home game. We just continue to stress, just keep working, keep going, nothing’s going to be given to us.”
Here’s how the first two rounds of the bracket look. Morehead State and Tennessee Martin will play at USI on Thursday, and then the Lady Eagles will face the winner of that match, at home, on Sunday, November 3rd, at 1:00.
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