Salukis visit SEMO on Sunday in final non-conference match

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University (2-2-1) will play its final non-conference game of the regular season tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Southeast Missouri State (SEMO).

Details
Who: Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (4-3)
Time: 1 p.m.
Date: Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022
Where: Houck Field - Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Live Stats: Here
Game: Match No. 7

Quick Hits

Southern Illinois is now 2-2-1 on the year after its 1-1 draw against SIUE on Thursday night.
The Salukis trailed, 1-0, after the 66th minute, but found a rapid response through Liz Brechtel in the 69th minute. Brechtel got free on the left side of the box and found the bottom corner to bring the match level at 1-1. Emma Spotak picked up an assist on the equalizing goal.
SIU is now on a three-game unbeaten run, out-scoring its opponents 5-2 during that span. The streak is the longest in program history.
Southern Illinois is third in the Missouri Valley Conference, trailing just UNI and Belmont.
For the first time in program history, the Salukis received Missouri Valley Conference player of the week honors for this past week. Brechtel was named the MVC's Offensive Player of the Week and Paris Walsh was the MVC Defensive Player of the Week.
Brecthel tallied one goal and one assist last week, while Walsh played a full 180 minutes in two games where the Salukis allowed just one total goal and earned two wins.
Southern's leading goalscorer is Brechtel, who has now scored two goals on the season. The senior is also tied for the team-lead in assists with one on the year.
McKensey Bunch, Kaitlin DuCharme, McKinley Stiff, and Alyssa Fallon are the other four players who have scored for the Salukis. In terms of assists, Brechtel is joined by Spotak and Christy Murauskis who all have one each.
Maddy Alaluf has played 360 minutes in-goal for SIU, allowing five goals while making 15 saves. The senior goalkeeper has also tallied a .750 save percentage, which is fourth-best in the conference.
Sam DeJulio has played a team-leading 450 minutes, followed by Walsh's 446.
Sam Dodd's 10 shots and five shots-on-goal are both team-highs.

Head Coach Craig Roberts

Roberts is in his first season as Southern Illinois' head coach. For the last two seasons, Roberts served as the head coach at Grambling State, where he led the Tigers to a combined record of 17-9-5 and back-to-back trips to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship match.
Prior to Grambling State, Roberts coached nine seasons at Ball State, totaling 99 wins to become the winningest coach in program history. Under his guidance, the Cardinals won four-consecutive Mid-American Conference West Division titles from 2015-2018 and claimed back-to-back MAC regular-season championships in 2015 and 2016.
Roberts' first head coaching job was with UT Martin, which went from 2006-2009. In 2009, he and the Skyhawks won their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship.
Outside of collegiate soccer, Roberts also has experience on an international level. From 2014-16, he was an assistant coach on the Haitian Women's National Team. During this time, he also served as the head coach of the U-17 Haitian National Team. After Haiti, Roberts was an assistant coach with the Puerto Rican Women's National Team from 2016-19.

Looking at SEMO

The Redhawks hold a record of 4-3 through their first seven games, and have won three of their last four matches.
SEMO shut-out Evansville in its 1-0 win on Thursday night. The shutout was the team's third of the season, as goalkeeper Sophia Elfrink made six saves in preserving the clean sheet.
Alayna Jakul scored just five minutes into the match, with the goal being Jakul's first of the year.
The Redhawks have finished over .500 in two of their last three seasons, with the lone below .500 finish being in 2021 when SEMO went 7-10-2.
Megan Heisserer is the team's leading scorer with two goals on the campaign. Jakul, Zoey Memmel, Cayla Koerner, and Faith Liljegren all have one goal each.
Elfrink has played 630 minutes so far this season, making 47 saves and allowing six goals.
SEMO's head coach is Heather Nelson, who is in her 24th season. Nelson is the only head coach the program has had since it started in 1999.

Series History

Sunday's match will be the second matchup all-time between SEMO and SIU. The two programs haven't met since Oct. 6, 2019.

Upcoming Schedule

The Salukis will begin conference-play next Sunday, Sept. 18, at home against Drake at 1 p.m.

Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on Twitter at @SIU_Soccer, on Facebook at Facebook.com/SalukiSoccer and on Instagram at @SIU_Soccer. Fans can also download the "Salukis" Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.

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Players Mentioned

Maddy Alaluf

Liz Brechtel

McKensey Bunch

Sam DeJulio

Sam Dodd

Kaitlin DuCharme

Alyssa Fallon

Christy Murauskis

Emma Spotak

McKinley Stiff

Paris Walsh

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