SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri State women's soccer team maintained its lead atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 5-2 win over UIC at home on Sunday.
 

The Bears (8-4-3, 6-0-1 MVC) had five different players score a goal in the win over the Flames (5-8-2, 4-1-2 MVC). The last time MoState scored five goals in a game was on Sep. 13, 2019, when they beat Tulsa, 5-1.
 

Reilly Heman scored the game winning goal for the Bears in the 20th minute. Goalkeeper Camielle Day sent the ball to midfield from the penalty arc where Julia Kristensen was able to head the ball to Heman. Heman was then able to dribble the past UIC's defense and sneak the ball into the back, right corner of the goal past Francesca Faraci. The Springfield local checked into the game less than a minute before scoring her fourth goal of the season.
 

Day already had an assist from the first goal of the day when Kristensen was able to take the ball from midfield past the UIC defense and into the back left corner for her fifth goal of the season in the 10th minute.
 

A goal from Grace O'Keefe in the 16th minute kept the Bears from being within one goal of their opponent all afternoon. Junior Riley Smith kept the ball from going out of bounds behind the UIC goal and kicked it back in where Kristensen was able to pick it up and get it to O'Keefe. On her senior day, O'Keefe rocketed the ball past Faraci and the Flame's back line and into the pack of the net.
 

Goal number four came from Kaeli Benedict and rounded out the Bears' scoring for the first half. Jenna Anderson got the ball to Benedict just beyond the penalty arc. Bendict heaved the ball into the top left of the net to get her third goal of the season on her senior night. Shortly after, UIC's Madison Ferris responded with a goal of her own on a penalty kick.
 

Missouri State added one goal in the second half when Maggie O'Keefe posted the first goal of her collegiate career when her older sister, Grace, kicked the ball into the crossbar at the top of the goal. From there, the younger O'Keefe was able to tap the rebound into the goal past UIC goalkeeper Trish Georgiou to get a goal in the 59th minute.
 

UIC's Elizabeth Weinberg responded in the 78th minute with an assist from Natalie Montini.
 

The Bears offense outshot the Flames' 26-10 with 14 shots on goal. Day was able to make four saves and is now six short of the 200 mark. Backup keeper Ella Becker subbed in with 15 minutes to go.
 

MoState is the only team left in the MVC without any losses and is locked into a spot in the eight-team Valley Tournament. With a five-point lead in the standings and three matches remaining, the Bears are chasing their first-ever MVC regular-season championship.
 

"Big win for us," head coach Kirk Nelson said. "Extremely pleased with our execution in the final third as well as maintaining high intensity throughout the entire match. Also, a special moment as we celebrated our seniors today. Now we focus on our next challenge later this week."
 

The Bears will look to maintain their Valley unbeaten streak when they face Southern Illinois on the road on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.