Eagles Begin MAC Play at Miami, Ball State

Soccer at Miami \| at Ball State
Date	Friday, Sept. 27 - 4 p.m. \| Sunday, Sept. 29 - 1 p.m.
Venue	Oxford, Ohio - Miami Soccer Field \| Muncie, Ind. - Soccer Field at Briner Sports Complex
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU Soccer \| @EMUAthletics

OXFORD, Ohio & MUNCIE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University soccer team opens Mid-American Conference play on the road Friday, Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. at Miami and Sunday, Sept. 29 at 1 p.m. at Ball State.
    Live stats will be available for Friday's match at Miami, while Sunday's contest will be broadcast on ESPN+. Both links can be found on the schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Additionally, the action on the pitch will be live tweeted from the team's account, @EMUSoccer.

SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Michigan is 12-13-1 all-time against the RedHawks. Oct. 18, 2018 was the last meeting between the two sides, with the Eagles claiming a 3-0 win at Scicluna Field. Redshirt junior Sabrina McNeill (Whitby, Ontario-Henry Street) and redshirt senior Kristin Hullibarger (Brooklin, Ontario-Donald A. Wilson) each netted a goal in the win.
    The Green and White is 7-11-2 against the Cardinals. The Eagles dropped a 1-0 decision at Scicluna Field during their last meeting on Oct. 21, 2018.

SCOUTING THE RED BIRDS: The Redhawks are 1-6 entering MAC play and have been shutout in their last three games. Olivia Winnett, Lyda Bogdanovitch, and Keara Kerr each have one goal for the RedHawks, while goalkeeper Izzie Vaccari has tallied 30 saves in six games to lead Miami.
                The Cardinals start their MAC slate with a record of 6-2, and will take on Central Michigan, Sept. 27 to open conference play before facing Eastern. Grace Alsop and Tatiana Hawkins-Dabney lead the Cardinals with four goals each. Tristin Stuteville, who has received MAC Defensive Player of the Week honors three times in 2019, has 29 saves in seven games.

STARTING THE MAC ON THE ROAD: This will be the 10th time in Eastern Michigan's 25-year history that it will be starting MAC play with two consecutive road games. In the nine prior times, EMU has compiled a record of 8-8-2 in their opening games on the road. The most recent occurrence was Sept. 22-24, 2017, when the Green and White started their conference slate with a 2-1 overtime loss to Ohio and 1-0 loss to Kent State.
                The Eagles have opened against Miami and Ball State, in that order, three times before. In 2007, Eastern was on the road for both games; in 2008 the Eagles hosted both teams at Scicluna Field, and in 2014 the Green and White started MAC play at Miami and then hosted Ball State during the opening weekend.
                Eastern is 4-2 all-time in the above-mentioned games, holding a 3-0 record against Miami and a 1-2 record against Ball State on opening MAC weekend.

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.

ALL BUT 37: Junior Tessa Osborne (Mentor, Ohio-Lake Catholic) has played all but 37 minutes of EMU's matches this season. Of the eight contests, Osborne has played six entire ones. Osborne leads the Eagles in minutes played with 723 and is the only one to have played more than five complete games.

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.

MCNEILL CHASING 40: With her Sept. 8 goal at Creighton, McNeill is one point shy of 40 career points. With 14 career goals and 11 career assists, the redshirt junior forward is six goals shy of 20 career goals.

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 Hullibarger 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 191-168-53 career record and 118-79-27 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 return home to Scicluna Field, hosting Northern Illinois Friday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m., followed by a matchup with in-state rival Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Amanda Cripps

Peyton Davis

Kristin Hullibarger

Sabrina McNeill

Tessa Osborne

Angela Vultaggio

Eastern Michigan Athletics