Sept. 24, 2014

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Missouri State women's soccer team (3-5-1) will play its final non-conference home match on Thursday when Nebraska Omaha (2-6-0) makes a stop at Betty and Bobby Allison South Stadium. The match will mark the final tune-up prior to league play which the Bears begin at MVC preseason favorite Illinois State (6-4-0) on Sunday afternoon.

"League games are the most important part of our season," said head coach Rob Brewer. "We have put a lot of our focus this week on Sunday's match, so the timing of Thursday's match can be beneficial for us. We have a few players recovering physically that we will use Thursday to gauge their progress. Our offense has been better than in recent years, but we need to improve on defense. We have been working on it and trying to keep our back line together and focused as we get set to play some of the top teams."

Missouri State overcame an early deficit on Sunday with a 3-1 win over SIU Edwardsville at Allison South. Junior Molly Brewer scored twice, tallying the equalizing and go-ahead goals, her first career multi-goal game. Senior Molly Huber tacked on an insurance goal early in the second half. Both Brewer and Huber now have five goals on the season, more than any player all of last season.

Junior goalkeeper Laura Ketzer rebounded from an early goal against to earn her first career win in the victory over the Cougars. She needed to make just one first half save as the MSU defense clamped down on SIUE.

MSU and UNO have only matched up twice previously. The teams played to a 1-1 draw last year in Omaha and the Bears prevailed with a 3-0 result in Springfield in 2012.

As the Bears pass the halfway point of the regular season, they will begin league play on Sunday with the biggest test of the year. Illinois State was a near-unanimous selection to win the league this season. Having won two of the last three regular season titles and three-straight MVC Tournament crowns, the Redbirds feature three-time MVC Player of the Year Rachel Tejada. Earlier this season, Tejada set the all-time MVC goals scored mark with her 60th tally, but MSU's defense has kept her relatively quiet with just two goals in four matches against the Bears.

Following this weekend's matches, the Bears will return to Allison South on Friday, October 3 against Indiana State. The 7:00 p.m. match versus the Sycamores will be FREE to all attendees. The Bears will attempt to break the all-time attendance record of 905 set back in 1999.

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