PREVIEW: Bulldogs Host Drury/SBU This Weekend

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – The Truman State women begin a stretch of six of their final eight on the home pitch this weekend when they welcome Drury and Southwest Baptist to the Truman Soccer Park.

The Bulldogs are 3-5-1 overall and 3-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference entering the weekend matches. They split a pair of 2-0 decisions on the road last weekend with a loss at Lewis on Friday and a bounce back win at Illinois Springfield on Sunday. Paige Peterson and Hanna Liljegren each scored their first goal of the season in the win over UIS and Beth Hopwood made four saves for the shutout.

Truman has seven goals in nine matches with Anna Meyer being the only multi-goal scorer with two. Hanna Burke, Paige Peterson, Faith Branson, Hanna Liljegren and Isabel Kurzban have the other tallies for Truman.

Drury comes into the weekend with a mark of 1-8-1 overall and 1-6 in conference. They defeated Missouri S&T 2-1 on September 22 for their lone win of the season and they have been shutout in seven of the 10 tilts thus far. Kayla Day has three of the team's five goals this season while Kaitlyn Knetzke has played and started all 10 matches for the Lady Panthers.

Last year, Truman defeated Drury 1-0 in Springfield on a 77^th minute goal from Faith Branson. The Bulldogs outshot Drury 18-9 and 7-3 on shots on goal. The all-time series with Drury is 10-2-3 in favor of Truman with the Bulldogs winning the last three matches. They are 5-0-2 in GLVC contests and the last Drury win came in 1993 at 1-0. Four of the 15 matches have gone to overtime with three ties.

On Sunday, Truman renews a rivalry that sparked in the mid 00s with Southwest Baptist. The two were once league-mates in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and now SBU joins the GLVC this season. The Bearcats are 3-5-1 overall and 2-5 in their new league with conference wins over Drury (2-1) and William Jewell (3-1).

Raegan Edwards has the bulk of the scoring for SBU with six goals and two assists in nine matches. SBU has 14 total goals on the season. Ashlyn Gibbs has been the starting keeper in all nine with a 1.58 goals-against average and a 70% save percentage.

Truman owns a 22-3-5 ledger against the Bearcats and won last year's non-conference match 4-0 in Kirksville. Katie Vollmer scored two goals, Hanna Liljegren and Jen Seithel added the others in the rout over SBU. From 2005-2008, the two schools were among the tops in the MIAA and battled in their six matches during that span to a 3-3-3 record. Since 2009, the Bulldogs have taken the last eight against Southwest Baptist.

Both matches will start at approximately 2:30 p.m. with live stats and video streaming available on the GLVC Sports Network.

Truman will take their final regular season road trip next weekend with a jaunt to Missouri S&T next Friday and Maryville University next Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

#10 Jen Seithel: M; 6' 2"; Senior

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

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

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

#5 Isabel Kurzban: D; 5' 5"; Senior

#23 Hanna Liljegren: M; 5' 2"; Senior

#13 Anna Meyer: M; 5' 7"; Sophomore

#15 Paige Peterson: M; 5' 7"; Junior

#16 Katie Vollmer: F; 5' 6"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

#10 Jen Seithel
: 6' 2"; Senior
: M

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

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

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

#5 Isabel Kurzban
: 5' 5"; Senior
: D

#23 Hanna Liljegren
: 5' 2"; Senior
: M

#13 Anna Meyer
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: M

#15 Paige Peterson
: 5' 7"; Junior
: M

#16 Katie Vollmer
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: F