Racers Look for Continued Success in Trip to Southern Illinois

Following a memorable week of success, Murray State women's soccer heads to Carbondale, Illinois for a Thursday matchup with Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. at the Hartzog Track and Field Complex. Last season, the Racers defeated the Salukis 3-1 on September 19 at Cutchin Field.

Senior Saraya Young has become the catalyst for MSU after winning Missouri Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Week and earning a spot on the College Soccer News National Team of the Week for MSU's last two outings. Young put together two goals and four assists in the Racers wins over Missouri State and Illinois State a week ago and boosted herself to the top of MVC in assists (7), assists per game (0.58), and points (11).

Fellow senior Lauren Payne and freshman Sydney Etter have become two of the biggest goal-scoring threats in the MVC with four goals each. Payne has scored in Murray State's last three games while Etter pieced together the first hat trick in the league this season in the 7-3 win over Illinois State.

Mary Hardy continues to show top-notch quality as a freshman with another goal in the seven-goal effort to bring her season goal contributions to three goals and two assists.

In the past week, Murray State has jumped to the top of the conference in several offensive categories with 21 goals and 1.50 goals per match. MSU has also moved up in the conference standings to a tie for second place. The Racers are the fifth most accurate team nationally with a .574 shooting percentage.

Scouting Report

SIU comes into the match at 6-3-3 overall and 3-1-2 in MVC play and are tied with MSU and Illinois-Chicago for second on the conference table. The Salukis are outscoring opponents 15-13 this season while being outshot 140-126.

Emma Spotak leads SIU with three goals and an assist on the season. The Salukis have 10 goalscorers this campaign with four players having multi-goal efforts.

Maddy Alaluf has anchored the goalkeeping efforts for Southern Illinois with 51 saves and an .823 save percentage in nearly 1000 minutes in goal.

There will be no streaming coverage of the matchup while live stats can be found on GoRacers.com.

Racers Look for Continued Success in Trip to Southern Illinois

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Etter

Mary Hardy

Lauren Payne

Saraya Young

Murray State University Athletics