Soccer Finishes Regular Season Home Slate With Two Key Matches

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The final two regular season home games are on tap for the Truman Women's Soccer team. The Bulldogs will host both members of the conference that reside in the eastern time zone when Indianapolis and Bellarmine play at the Truman Soccer Park.

Truman is 5-3 in conference and 9-3 overall this season. Indianapolis is 3-3-2 in the GLVC with a 6-5-2 mark and Bellarmine is 5-2-1 in league and 7-4-1 overall.

The Bulldogs split a pair of 1-0 decisions last weekend. In Springfield on Friday, Faith Branson scored with 14 minutes left to play on an assist by Chance Douglass for the win over Drury University. It was Branson's team leading fourth goal of the season.

On Sunday, Missouri S&T snapped a 15-match winless streak over the Bulldogs with a 1-0 win. Kayla Foster scored unassisted with 52 seconds left in the first half to give the Miners their first victory over the Bulldogs since 1998.

Truman dropped from first to fourth in the GLVC scoring race with 21 goals through 12 games. Rockhurst took over the top spot and has 24 this season followed by William Jewell and Southern Indiana with 22. McKendree, the league leader in the standings, has the best goal differential at +15 (18 goals for, 3 against) with
Truman second at +13 (21 for, eight against). McKendree has nine shutouts in 12 matches and Truman has six shutouts in a dozen bouts.

Branson and Hanna Burke are among the league leaders in points. They are both time with 10 points this season with Branson having four goals and two assists
and Burke with three goals and four helpers.

Beth Hopwood is second in goals against average with a 0.65 per game mark. She has played all 1104 minutes this season and has made 46 saves.

In this week's United Soccer Coaches Association regional survey, the Bulldogs are fifth. Stahlwart Grand Valley State continues to cruise atop the poll with a 12-0-1 record. Ferris State (10-1-2) and Saginaw Valley State (9-1-2) are next followed by McKendree and the Bulldogs. The first NCAA poll will be released on October 24^th.

UINDY started with a bang winning six of their first eight matches but since meeting McKendree on September 23 have gone 0-3-2. Stephanie Burdsall has seven of the team's 20 goals this year and the Greyhounds scored nine goals in their first match of the year against Purdue Northwest. Last year in Kirksville, Truman outshot UINDY 22-5 with Isabel Kurzban and Sam Bibee scoring goals in each half for the 2-0 shutout.

Bellarmine has played two thrillers in their last two visits to Kirksville. Truman scored 43 seconds into overtime in 2016 to upset then #9 Bellarmine 1-0 then last year; Polly Marino hammered home the winner for the Knights with 35 seconds left in regulation for a 1-0 win. The Knights are 3-1 in their last four matches and like the Bulldogs have 11 players with a goal this season.

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Players Mentioned

#14 Sam Bibee: M; 5' 3"; Senior

#22 Hanna Burke: M; 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

#12 Chance Douglass: M; 5' 6"; Sophomore

#5 Isabel Kurzban: M; 5' 5"; Junior

#0 Beth Hopwood: GK; 5' 7"; Freshman

#3 Faith Branson: F; 5' 6"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#14 Sam Bibee
: 5' 3"; Senior
: M

#22 Hanna Burke
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore
: M

#12 Chance Douglass
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: M

#5 Isabel Kurzban
: 5' 5"; Junior
: M

#0 Beth Hopwood
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: GK

#3 Faith Branson
: 5' 6"; Freshman
: F