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SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State women's soccer team rode an early goal and a dominant defensive presence to a 1-0 blanking of Evansville in the quarterfinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Championship Sunday at Betty & Bobby Allison South Stadium.

Kayleigh Putnam highlighted the Bears' scoring efforts, heading in the goal in the 11^th minute before colliding with Evansville's goalkeeper in the box to give MSU the 1-0 home lead. The go-ahead marked Putnam's first and pads the Bears balanced scoring, seeing nine different players score this season.

MSU continued the offensive pressure, taking eight shots at the net in the first half. Evansville failed to match the Bears offensive production as the defense held the Purple Aces to zero shot attempts for the opening 45 minutes.

It took until the 61^st minute for the Purple Aces to threaten, as Amanda DaSilva aimed for the bottom center but Kaitlin Maxwell easily scooped it up for what would be her first of three crucial saves during the second en route to her sixth shutout of 2019.

Both offenses played close in the latter portion, each registering four shot opportunities. Jordan Eickelman accounted for nearly half of the Bears' 12 total attempts, racking up five shots throughout the postseason match.

The Bears continue their MVC tournament run on Friday, Nov. 8 against No. 2 Illinois State at 3 p.m. on their home field. The winner of that matchup moves onto the championship round on Sunday, Nov. 10.