Conference Play Kicks Off in Women's Soccer

Horizon League Women's Soccer Schedule (with game links)

The race is officially on. After three weeks of non-conference action, eight teams will take aim at 11-time regular-season champion Milwaukee over the next month and a half, attempting to capture the Horizon League regular season crown. Four of the 10 matches this weekend feature conference clashes, including three on Friday night.

The night's lone match on the Horizon League Network features No. 17 Milwaukee at Cleveland State. The Panthers, off to a school-record 7-1-0 start to the year, have earned a No. 11 ranking from Soccer America magazine as well as their place in the NSCAA poll, which has them on top of the Great Lakes region. Sarah Hagen, has she has in each of her first three years in the League, paces the conference in scoring, tallying nine goals and 20 points.

Cleveland State (5-2-0) was dealt an early setback with the loss of its starting keeper, but Becky Williams has stood in goal over the last four matches, holding opponents to a 0.48 goals against average. In the middle, Natalie Daniels has handed out six assists on the young year. The Vikings are coming off a 2-0 road trip through the Rocky Mountains, as they knocked off Wyoming (2-1, 2OT) and Air Force (2-0) before resting throughout the week.

Green Bay (2-5-2) will look for some offense in its League opener, as the Phoenix travel to Valparaiso (3-3-1) for a 5 p.m. ET match. The Phoenix enter the match fourth in the League, allowing just 0.85 goals per game, courtesy of Maddie Drusch's 0.80 GAA average, but Green Bay has struggled to find offense outside of Hekla Palmadottir, who leads the club with three goals and two assists.

The Crusaders are coming off a 1-0-1 week in which Rachel Hoaglin stepped up with a pair of goals as Valpo drew at IUPUI before knocking off Eastern Illinois 2-0. With three goals and seven points, Hoaglin is pacing the Crusaders in both categories. In its last five matches against Green Bay, Valparaiso holds a 3-0-2 mark, including a scoreless draw last season.

Both Wright State and Butler will face non-conference opponents on Friday before opening League play on Sunday. The Bulldogs will be touring the Detroit metropolitan area all weekend, meeting Oakland to start the trip before facing off against Detroit to conclude the week. Butler, the regular season co-champion and tournament host in 2010, is looking for bigger and better in 2011, getting off to a 4-4-0 start to the year after two difficult losses at last weekend's Kentucky Tournament.

Detroit (6-3-1) owns the best non-conference record in the League outside of Milwaukee and is coming off a back-and-forth 4-3 double overtime loss at regionally ranked Michigan State. The match is a meeting from last year's conference semifinals, which saw top-seeded Butler emerge with 2-1 win. This year, both offenses shoot early and often, with the Titans taking a League-high 150 shots and Butler 128.

After hosting Western Michigan on Friday in its Alumni Field opener, Wright State (4-3-1) opens its League slate when Youngstown State (3-4-1) pays a visit to the renovated facility on Sunday. For the Raiders, Brittany Persaud continues to be the distributor in the middle of the field, handing out five assists to go with her two goals. Defensively, Brooke McCurdy had not allowed two or more goals in back-to-back matches until last weekend, when Wright State went 1-1 at the RedHawk Shootout.

With a young squad in tow, the Penguins have gotten plenty of points from freshman Jade Flory (six goals, two assists) and solid goalkeeping from sophomore Ali Viola (38 saves, 1.23 GAA). In just 16 games into her college career, sophomore Allison Ludwig ranks fifth on the YSU career goals list with 10. She is also just the fifth player in school history to score at least 10 career goals.

Around the League:
- Drusch is approaching a pair of school records. With four saves at Northern Iowa last Sunday, Drusch increased her career total to 339, which is just 14 shy of breaking the school record held by Laura Sandt (1994-97). In addition, the senior enters league play with 14 career shutouts, a figure that ranks second on the school's all-time list behind Barb Singer (17.5 shutouts, 1990-93).

- Loyola is the lone Horizon League team without a conference match this weekend. The Ramblers head to DeKalb, Ill., on Sunday to meet Northern Illinois. Loyola's first conference match comes on Sept. 28, when the Ramblers host Valparaiso.

- The annual Milwaukee/Marquette contest set a new Engelmann Stadium attendance record, as 2,212 fans packed the stadium for the thrilling 1-0 double-vertime contest. The Sept. 7 showdown was broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel as part of the NSCAA Game of the Week.