Salukis to square off with Missouri State

CARBONDALE — Southern Illinois (4-2-2) will host Missouri State on Thursday night at 6 p.m. in hopes of extending its unbeaten streak to seven. 

Details

Who: Missouri State Bears (5-4-2)
Time: 6 p.m.
Date: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022
Where: Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex – Carbondale, Ill. 
Live Stats: Here

Quick hits

• Southern Illinois is 4-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play heading into its match against Missouri State on Thursday night.
• In their last match, the Salukis shut out Belmont, 2-0, on Sunday. The victory marked the first league win under head coach Craig Roberts.
• Both of SIU’s goals came in the final 15 minutes of the match. First, it was Christy Murauskis who scored after a missed penalty to give the Salukis a 1-0 lead. Kaitlin DuCharme sealed the win with the team’s second of the day in the 82nd minute. 
• Maddy Alaluf made five saves in preserving the shutout for the Salukis. Alaluf has now tallied three shutouts on the year.
• The senior goalkeeper is currently second in the conference with a 1.00 GAA and leads the Valley in saves per game with 5.14.
• Southern Illinois is first in the Valley in goals per game (1.375) and has allowed the second-fewest goals with nine given up on the year.
• DuCharme and Liz Brechtel are tied for the most goals on the roster, with both having two so far this season. Brechtel’s two assists are also a team-high. 
• Seven players have scored one goal for the Salukis this season, with those seven being Murauskis, Emma Spotak, McKensey Bunch, Sam Dodd, Alyssa Fallon, Quinn Parks, and McKinley Stiff. 
• Murauskis and Spotak have also tallied one assist each.
• The Salukis are on a six-game unbeaten streak, the longest in program history. During this run, SIU has out-scored its opponents 10-4 and holds a record of 4-0-2. 
• Dodd’s 16 shots are the most on the team. The junior forward is tied for the team lead in shots-on-goal (7) with senior defender Paris Walsh.

Salukis Head Coach Craig Roberts

• Roberts is in his first season as Southern Illinois’ head coach. For the last two seasons, Roberts served as the head coach at Grambling State, where he led the Tigers to a combined record of 17-9-5 and back-to-back trips to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship match. 
• Prior to Grambling State, Roberts coached nine seasons at Ball State, totaling 99 wins to become the winningest coach in program history. Under his guidance, the Cardinals won four-consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division titles from 2015-2018 and claimed back-to-back MAC regular-season championships in 2015 and 2016.  
• Roberts’ first head coaching job was with UT Martin, which went from 2006-2009. In 2009, he and the Skyhawks won their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship. 
• Outside of collegiate soccer, Roberts also has experience on an international level. From 2014-16, he was an assistant coach on the Haitian Women’s National Team. During this time, he also served as the head coach of the U-17 Haitian National Team.  After Haiti, Roberts was an assistant coach with the Puerto Rican Women’s National Team from 2016-19.

Looking at Missouri State

• The Bears enter Thursday’s match with a record of 5-4-2 overall and 2-0-1 in Valley play. 
• In their last match, the Bears shut out Northern Iowa, 2-0, on Sunday. 
• Missouri State scored twice in the first half, with Joey Fosnow scoring in the fourth minute and Iraia Arrue adding a second goal in the 34th minute. Camielle Day made five saves in the win. 
• The Bears haven’t been defeated in their last four matches, going 3-0-1 and out-scoring their opponents 5-1 during that span.
• Missouri State is currently second in the Valley behind Valparaiso, who is 3-0 in conference play. The Bears are one of two teams in the Valley to hold a 2-0-1 record in league games, with the other being Indiana State. 
• Fosnow is the team’s leading scorer with three goals for the year.
• Hailey Chambliss and Carly Raunig lead the Bears with two assists each so far this season.
• Day has started 10 matches in-goal for Missouri State, allowing 10 goals and making 34 saves in those 10 appearances.
• Missouri State is led by head coach Kirk Nelson, who is in his first season with the team. 

Salukis and Bears series history

• Thursday’s match will be the third meeting of all time between the Bears and Salukis. They have faced each other in each of the last three seasons, including 2022. 

Upcoming schedule

• The Salukis will be out on the road for their next two matches, first traveling to Evansville on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 1 p.m., and then to Indiana State on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m.
• Southern Illinois won’t return home until Sunday, Oct. 9, when the Salukis host Northern Iowa at 1 p.m. 

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Soccer, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiSoccer, and on Instagram at @SIU_Soccer. Fans can also download the “Salukis” Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.

Dominic Hoscher

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