Salukis begin conference play on Sunday against Drake

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University (3-2-1) will play its first Missouri Valley Conference match of the season on Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Drake.

Details
Who: Drake Bulldogs (1-5-2)
Time: 1 p.m.
Date: Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022
Where: Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex
Live Stats: Here
Game: Match No. 8

Quick Hits

The Salukis hold a record of 3-2-1 heading into their first conference game of the season.
In their final non-conference match of the regular season, the Salukis defeated Southeast Missouri State (SEMO), 1-0, on Sunday, Sept. 11. Senior Emma Spotak scored the winning goal in the 30th minute for Southern Illinois.
Senior Maddy Alaluf was dominant in-goal, tallying a season-high 11 saves in her second clean sheet of the year. The strong performance led to Alaluf being named the Missouri Valley Conference Goalkeeper of the Week this past week. The senior is the first Saluki goalkeeper to receive the honor.
Seniors Liz Brechtel and Paris Walsh became the first SIU players to be named Players of the Week in program history one week prior. Brechtel was the MVC Offensive Player of the Week for her one goal, one assist efforts against Alabama A&M and Purdue Fort Wayne, while Walsh received MVC Defensive Player of the Week honors for playing a full 180 minutes in a week where the Salukis allowed just one goal.
Southern Illinois is unbeaten in its last four matches, holding a record of 3-0-1 during that span. The Salukis have out-scored their opponents 6-2 in those four games.
The strong run has seen SIU move into first place in the MVC heading into the first conference match of the season. Southern is one of three MVC teams to boast three wins so far this year.
The Salukis have had success while playing in Carbondale, posting a record of 2-1-1 in four home matches.
Brechtel is the team's leading scorer with two goals on the year. The senior is also one of three Salukis to have an assist this season, with the other two being Spotak and Christy Murauskis.
Including Brechtel, six different Salukis have found the back-of-the-net this year. Spotak, McKensey Bunch, Kaitlin DuCharme, Alyssa Fallon, and McKinley Stiff are the other five.
Senior Sam DeJulio leads the team in minutes played with 540 so far in 2022. Walsh is second with 536.
Junior Sam Dodd has tallied the most shots (11) and shots-on-goal (five) on the team.
Alaluf has allowed just five goals and has made 26 saves so far this season. Her 1.00 GAA and .839 SV% are both career-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 Drake

The Bulldogs are 1-5-2 through their first eight matches of 2022.
Drake won its first match of the season at Kansas City, 3-1, on Aug. 18, but haven't been back in the win column since.
In their last match on Sunday, Sept. 11, the Bulldogs fell at North Dakota State by a final score of 1-0. Drake was out-shot 14-8 in the loss.
Goalkeeper Vianey Lopez allowed one goal and made six saves in the game. On the season, Lopez has allowed 13 goals and has made 32 saves in seven matches played.
Drake's leading scorer is junior Emma Nagel, who has scored three goals on the year. Three other players all have one goal each, with those three being Layla Kelbel, Avery Mertz, and Makenna Shepard.
Rachel Panther is the team leader in assists with two on the season.
The Bulldogs are led by head coach Lindsey Horner, who is in her 13th season. Horner was previously Drake's assistant coach for five years (2003-08).
Horner is the program's second women's soccer head coach.

Series History

This will be the third meeting all-time between the Salukis and Bulldogs.
The first match between the two came in 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa, with the second one taking place in Carbondale, Ill.

Upcoming Schedule

The Salukis will travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Belmont in their next match on Sunday, Sept. 25, at 1 p.m.
Southern Illinois' next home match will be on Thursday, Sept. 29, vs. Missouri State at 6 p.m. at the Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex.

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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