Racers Ready for Crucial Week in Iowa

Missouri Valley Conference points and assists leader Saraya Young leads Murray State women's soccer as they face Northern Iowa on Thursday at 3 p.m. at UNI Soccer Field in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Racers currently sit at sixth in the MVC standings with each of their two games this week vital to conference tournament seeding.

Young continues to show her impressive offensive prowess with another goal in MSU's last match against Valparaiso. The senior looks to be one of the front-runners for Offensive Player of the Year in the Valley leading the league in goal contributions (10) this season.

The freshman duo of Sydney Etter and Mary Hardy have been two of the MVC's best newcomers with Etter putting in four goals this season and netting the leagues only hat trick this season while Hardy has five goal contributions this season while primarily playing as a defender.

Lauren Payne is the joint top goal scorer for MSU with Etter this season as the senior has become an impressive offensive threat from the midfield for the Racers. Hailey Cole has returned to the MSU starting lineup and picked up her third assist of the year in the match versus Valpo.

Scouting Report

UNI enters the contest at eighth on the league table and have earned the most draws by any MVC team this season (4-5-6 overall, 1-2-5 MVC).

Lauren Heinsch leads the the Panthers with four goals this campaign to go along with an assist in over 1100 minutes. Sydney Burksey is the leading playmaker for UNI with three assists in 2022 to lead the squad.

Caitlyn Richards is the leading goalkeeper with three clean sheets this season to go with 54 saves in 1150 minutes between the posts.

Coverage of the matchup can be found on ESPN+.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hailey Cole

Sydney Etter

Mary Hardy

Lauren Payne

Saraya Young

Murray State University Athletics