SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women's soccer wraps up regular season action in Normal, Ill., battling Illinois State Sunday at 12 p.m. With a Bears win, MSU would clinch an outright Missouri Valley Conference Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history. The game can be viewed on ESPN3.
 

Missouri State (10-5-2, 7-1-1 MVC) at Illinois State (2-14-1, 0-8-1 MVC)
Date	Sunday, Oct. 23, | 12 p.m.
Location	Normal, Ill.
Site	Adelaide Street Field
Follow Along	Live Stats, Watch
Missouri State	Women's Soccer Home Page | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

 
Match Details
The Missouri State women's soccer team (10-5-2, 7-1-1 MVC) concludes the regular season on the road, taking on Illinois State in Normal, Ill., Sunday at 12 p.m. If the Bears win, they would clinch an outright MVC Regular Season Championship for the first time in program history. The match will be broadcasted on ESPN3.
 
Clinching Summary
Missouri State would clinch an outright MVC title and the No. 1 seed in MVC Tournament if…

• MSU wins
• MSU ties and Valparaiso ties/loses (versus Indiana State)
• MSU loses and Valpo ties/loses

MoState would clinch a share of the MVC title and the No. 1 seed in MVC Tournament if…

• MSU ties and Valpo wins

Valpo would clinch the regular season title if... 

• MSU loses and Valpo wins

 
Quick Kicks
• Missouri State is 8-1-1 since a 1-0 loss at Arkansas State on Sept. 8.
• Hailey Chambliss (Fr., F/M, Eureka, Mo.) leads Bears in goals (5) and points (12). In the Missouri Valley Conference, she's tied for second most in goals and third most in points.
• Grace O'Keefe (So., F, Overland Park, Kan.) is tied for fifth in The Valley in points (11), tied for sixth in the conference in goals (4), and she leads all Bears in shots (34).
• Gracie English (Jr., F/M, Belleville, Ill, Saint Louis transfer) and Chambliss are two of seven MVC players to score two or more goals in a single game. English scored twice at ORU (9/04/22), and Chambliss scored twice at Southern Illinois (9/29/22). They are alongside Drake's Emma Nagel (two at Kansas City, 8/18/22), Northern Iowa's Allison Whitaker (two vs. St. Ambrose, 8/28/22) Illinois State's Allison Baker (two vs. Lindenwood, 9/8/22), Murray State's Sydney Etter (three vs. Illinois State, 10/9/22) and Belmont's Leah Firsdon (two vs. Evansville, 10/16/22).
• Through 17 games, Kyli Jackson (Sr., D, Overland Park, Kan.) has logged the most minutes
of any Bear at 1464. Jenna Anderson (So., D/M, Overland Park, Kan.) is the only other Bear
with over 1400 minutes, with 1446 respectively. Jackson has played the full 90 minutes for the Bears last eight consecutive games.
• Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Abby Couch (Jr., M, Kearney, Mo.) and Carly Raunig
(Jr., D, Olathe, Kan.) have started every match (34 total).
• Camielle Day (Jr., GK, Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) has posted eight shutouts on the season, the most in the MVC (tied for 16th highest nationally). Day is also tied for third in The Valley in goals against average (0.85).
• MoState has a shutout percentage of .588, tied for 23rd in the nation. MSU's 10 total shutouts is only one away (11) from the program's all-time record, set in 2000.
• Missouri State ranks 36th in shot accuracy nationally (.517).
• Since Sept. 1 vs. Saint Louis, the Bears are outscoring their opponents 15-5 and outshooting them 139-110.
• MoState already has already more than tripled its conference wins (seven) from last year's total (two).
• The Bears have seven conference shutouts out of their nine MVC matches, and they have been exceptionally reliable on the road, posting a road record 4-2-1 (3-0-1 in away MVC games). If MSU wins Sunday, they will tie their all-time road win total (5), a feature achieved by four teams previously in 1999, 2011, 2018 and 2019.
 
Scoring Summary
•   Eight Bears have found the back of the net so far.
•   Hailey Chambliss (Fr., M, Eureka, Mo.) has five goals. Chambliss scored twice in one match, netting goals in the 71st and 84th minutes at Southern Illinois (9/29/22). Next, she scored the following game, netting a game-winning, 52nd minute goal for the Bears at home against Valparaiso. She then scored at home versus Indiana State (10/13/22), scoring a game-winning goal in the 12th minute. Her most recent goal came at home against UIC (10/16/22) in the 84th minute, netting a game-winning score on Senior Day.
•   Grace O'Keefe (So., F, Overland Park, Kan.) has four goals. O'Keefe scored on a penalty kick in the 29th minute against Tulsa (8/28/22), netted the game-winning goal in the 78th minute of the conference opener vs. Evansville (9/18/22), put the Bears on the board with a goal in the 83rd minute off a free kick versus Murray State (10/06/22) and scored the game-winning goal for MSU in the 57th minute at Belmont (10/09/22).
•   Joey Fosnow (Fr., F, Lee's Summit, Mo.) has three goals. Fosnow scored the first goal of the year for MoState in the 54th minute vs. SEMO (8/25/22), netted her second in 24th minute at Drake (9/22/22) and scored in the fourth minute at Northern Iowa (9/25/22).
•   Gracie English (Jr., F/M, Belleville, Ill, Saint Louis) has two goals, with both of her scores coming in the first half on Sept. 4 at Oral Roberts.
•   Kaeli Benedict (So., M, Bridgton, Mo.) has two goals, scoring against SEMO (8/25/22) in the 67th minute and netting a game-winning penalty kick goal in the 16th minute against Kansas City (9/11/22).
•   Riley Smith (Fr., F, Platte City, Mo.) has one goal, finding the back of the net in the 85th minute vs. Tulsa (8/28/22).
•   Iraia Arrue (So., F, Caracas, Venezuela) has one goal, scoring in the 34th minute at Northern Iowa (9/25/22).
•   Riley Sherron (Jr., D/M, Leawood, Kan.) has one goal, scoring in the 83rd minute at Belmont
(10/09/22).
 
Head Coach Kirk Nelson
•   Head coach Kirk Nelson took the reins of the Bears on Jan. 1, 2022, after eight seasons as associate head coach. Nelson replaced former Bears' head coach and founder of the MSU women's program Rob Brewer, who retired last season after 26 years. Prior to joining the Missouri State staff, Nelson spent four seasons at the University of Nevada, including one as associate head coach. During his last two seasons in Nevada, Nelson led the Wolfpack to back-to-back Mountain West Conference Tournaments. Nelson also had success as a high school head coach near Phoenix, AZ, spending time at both Mountain Pointe High School and Chandler High School. Nelson racked up 175 wins and competed for a pair of 5A state championships during this time. Nelson is certified as a USSF National "A" License coach, one of the highest coaching certifications given out by the federation and holds both an NSCAA Premier Diploma and a Goalkeeping Diploma.
 
Series History
•   Illinois State leads the series all-time, 22-8-9.
•   The teams last met on 9/29/21. The Redbirds defeated the Bears in Springfield, 1-0 (OT).
 
Looking Ahead
•   After the game versus Illinois State, MoState is set to play in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament (opponent TBA) on Nov. 3.