Soccer Hosts Northern Illinois, Western Michigan at Scicluna Field

Soccer vs. Northern Illinois \| Western Michigan
Date	Friday, Oct. 4 - 4 p.m. \| Sunday, Oct. 6 - 1 p.m.
Venue	Scicluna Field - Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU Soccer \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University soccer team continues Mid-American Conference play with a home weekend, hosting Northern Illinois Friday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. and Western Michigan Sunday, Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.
   Live stats will be available for both games. The links can be found on the schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Additionally, all the action on the pitch will be live-tweeted from the team's account, @EMUSoccer.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Michigan holds a 16-5-3 all-time advantage over Northern Illinois. In their last meeting Oct. 12, 2018, the Eagles came away with a 1-0 win on an 81st-minute goal by sophomore Kylie Frantz (Erie, Pa.-Villa Maria Academy).
   The Eagles and Broncos have been evenly matched through the years, with Western Michigan taking the 13-12-4 series lead. In last year's meeting, Oct. 14, junior Parys Kerr (Whitby, Ontario-Pickering) scored for the Eagles but the Broncos came away with the win, 2-1.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES AND BRONCOS: The Huskies arrive in Ypsilanti with a 2-6-1 record and 0-2 mark in MAC play. Trudy Quidzinski and Julia Neary account for two-thirds of Northern's offense with four and two goals, respectively. Megan Donnally and Julia Lentz have split time in goal, each tallying one win and combining for 54 saves.
   Western Michigan enters the week with a 3-5-1 record and 1-0-1 conference play record. The Broncos will face Central Michigan Oct. 4 before coming to Scicluna Field. Morgan Otteson leads the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points, while Bailey Korhorn is close behind with three goals and three assists for nine points. Maggie Rogers has spent the most time between the pipes for Western, accumulating 45 saves in eight games.

40 FOR 10: Sabrina McNeill's (Whitby, Ontario-Henry Street) sixth-minute goal at Miami pushed her past the 40 career points mark. She has tallied 15 career goals and 11 career assists.
The redshirt junior becomes the seventh member to join the 40-point club at Eastern Michigan.

FIRST CAREER...: The first conference weekend of the season contained a couple milestones for Eastern Michigan soccer players. At Miami, Sept. 27, senior Aubrey Martin (Toronto, Ontario-Father John Redmond) recorded her first career point on an assist to junior Tessa Osborne's (Mentor, Ohio-Lake Catholic) 80th-minute goal.
   At Ball State Sept. 29, sophomore Sarah Ash (South Lyon, Mich.-South Lyon) recorded her first career goal, assist, and points. Her first goal came on her first career shot, as well. Ash assisted on McNeill's goal in the sixth minute and scored in the 50th minute at Ball State for her first three points.

ROAD WARRIORS: Eastern Michigan played six consecutive road games for the third time in the team's 25-year history. After first completing the road swing in 2001, the Eagles repeated the feat a decade later in 2011.
The longest road swing the Green and White have taken occurred in 2008 for a seven-game non-conference road slate.

110 MINUTES WITHOUT A GOAL: Eastern Michigan and Youngstown State ended in a 0-0 tie after two overtime periods Sept. 13, 2019. This is the first scoreless draw for the Eagles since October 16, 2016 against Kent State. This was the 19th time in 25 seasons that Eastern has ended in a scoreless tie.

GOAL SCORING DEBUT: Freshman Amanda Cripps (Bradford, Ontario-Trinity Catholic) became the first freshman to score for Eastern Michigan in her collegiate debut since Angela Vultaggio Aug. 19, 2011 in a 2-2 2OT draw with Pittsburgh.

EYEING THE RECORD BOOKS: Redshirt senior Kristin Hullibarger (Brooklin, Ontario-Donald A. Wilson) moved into a tie for 11th in career points after scoring during EMU's Aug. 22 2-2 (2OT) draw with Oakland. Her 43 points are tied with Paige Sheridan. In addition, Hullibager's 18 career goals rank ninth all-time in program history.

SUPER SENIORS: Returning for their redshirt senior seasons, Hullibarger and Peyton Davis (North Ridgeville, Ohio-Holy Name) look to leave their mark on EMU soccer. Hullibarger led the Eagles with eight goals and 21 points during the 2018 season and grabbed Second Team All-MAC honors. Hullibarger's 18 career goals to date ranks ninth all-time in program history.
Davis returns for her final season after sitting out the 2018 season due to injury. In the season prior, she led the team with five goals and 12 points while earning Second Team All-MAC and Academic All-MAC honors.

OFFENSIVE POWER: Of the 27 goals scored by Eastern Michigan in 2018, 26 were scored by returning members to the 2019 roster (Hullibarger (8), McNeill (7), Olson (3), Kerr (2), Frantz (1), Osborne (1), Cobetto (1), Frederick (1), Tausend (1), Chatzis (1)).

STARTING LINES: Eastern Michigan returns five of the six players who started all 21 matches during the 2018 season (Frederick, Hullibarger, McNeill, Osborne, Shira).
CONFERENCE VARIETY: EMU's 2019 schedule features seven different conferences. In addition to the MAC, the Eagles will take on teams from the A10, ACC, BIG Ten, Horizon, and MVC during non-conference play.

IRONMAN OF THE MAC: Scott Hall enters his 21st season at the helm of Eastern Michigan's soccer program. Hall is the longest tenured coach in the MAC, and his three MAC Regular Season titles are tied for the most in conference history. Hall has compiled a 191-172-53 career record and 118-81-27 mark in MAC play.

MAC PRESEASON POLL: The Eagles were selected to finish seventh in the Mid-American Conference in 2019 after finishing the 2018 campaign with an overall record of 10-11, 5-6 in the MAC. The Eagles return 23 of 26 members from the 2018 squad.

2019 MAC Preseason Poll
1. Bowling Green
2. Ball State
3. Kent State
4. Buffalo
5. Ohio
6. Western Michigan
7. Eastern Michigan
8. Central Michigan
9. Akron
10. Toldeo
11. Miami
12. Northern Illinois

OH, CANADA!: The 2019 Eastern Michigan roster features 11 Canadian players. The 11 members tie the 2018 roster record for most Canadian members of the team.

ON THE HORIZON: The Eagles split their series next week, traveling to Toldeo Oct. 10 for a 7 p.m. matchup, then returning to Scicluna Field to host Bowling Green Oct. 13 at 1 p.m.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: Stay connected with the Eagles all season long by following @EMUSoccer and @EMUAthletics on Twitter for all of the latest EMU soccer updates. Be sure to use the hashtag #EMUEagles.

Soccer Hosts Northern Illinois, Western Michigan at Scicluna Field

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Players Mentioned

Sarah Ash

Amanda Cripps

Peyton Davis

Kylie Frantz

Kristin Hullibarger

Parys Kerr

Aubrey Martin

Tessa Osborne

Angela Vultaggio

Eastern Michigan Athletics