Illinois State claimed the regular-season title and No. 1 seed for the State Farm MVC Tournament with a 2-0 victory against Drake on Sunday.  In other action today, Creighton and UNI played to a 1-1 tie, while Missouri State (win at SIU-E) and Evansville (loss at Murray State) wrapped up their regular-season non-league slates.

Illinois State 2, Drake 0
NORMAL, Ill. - After two early first-half goals by Jessica Carlson and Alyssa Schulz, the Illinois State women's soccer team clinched the 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Regular-Season Championship for the third-straight year after shutting out Drake, 2-0, at home Sunday.  In total, the Redbirds have won the conference seven times in program history. 

The win extends the Redbirds winning streak to eight to tie the program record for most consecutive wins in a season. The last time the Redbirds won eight-straight games as in 2001, while the Valley record is nine-straight wins. 

Schulz led the Redbirds in points on the game with three after assisting Carlson on the Redbirds first goal and scoring the second goal 28 minutes in from a Ruthie Zemke assist. Carlson scored just nine minutes into the half. On the season, Carlson and Schulz have 23 and 17 total points, respectively.

With the win, the Redbirds (10-5-1, 5-0-0 MVC) ended their home season undefeated and remain undefeated in conference play, while Roff is 18-1-2 at home during his first three years as head coach.
On the season, the Redbirds are fourth in program history for points in a season at Illinois State with 96 and goals in a season with 36.

The Redbird defense held the Bulldogs to just five total shots on the game to help Sasha Reiber earn her third conference shutout as goalkeeper for the Redbirds and fifth total shutout on the season. Drake's Crystal Townley's shot in the second half marked the best chance for the Bulldogs to score in the game, but the shot was blocked by the Redbirds' Kristin Cooley to preserve the shutout win.

Creighton 1, UNI 1
OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton sophomore Kelly Connolly scored on a corner kick with 36.1 seconds left to tie the score and help Creighton salvage a 1-1 tie with Northern Iowa on Sunday afternoon at Morrison Stadium.

Connolly's fourth goal of the season came in the final minute of regulation off a corner kick. Erin Gunther delivered a perfect ball, and Connolly redirected it off the outstretched fingertips of UNI keeper Lauren Potzman just inside the far post. It was Gunther's third assist of the year.

Northern Iowa had taken a 1-0 lead midway through the second half after Chelsie Hochstedler was taken down while spinning around a Bluejay defender in the box. Hochstedler would then convert the penalty kick for her team-best fifth goal of the season, giving UNI the lead with 21:07 remaining.

Creighton had a pair of solid scoring chances in the overtime sessions, but could not find the back of the net. Beth Fyles had a shot from the top of the box that was blocked, and Potzman would make saves on attempts by Gunther and Emily Orbell in the final minute of the first OT as well. Fyles led all players with five shots in the match, while CU's Orbell and Connolly each had four attempts.

Creighton owned a 20-15 advantage on shots for the game, including 9-3 in the overtime sessions. Potzman made six saves while CU goalkeeper Kaitie Jo Swanson made nine saves.  Creighton moves to 10-5-2 on the year and is 2-2-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Northern Iowa is 2-11-3 (overall)  and 0-5-1 (MVC) after snapping a nine-match losing streak.

Missouri State 2, SIU Edwardsville 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The Missouri State women's soccer team (8-5-3, 3-1-1) wrapped up its non-conference slate with a 2-0 shutout win at SIU Edwardsville (2-9-2) today.

Senior Samantha Aguilar scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season in the 15th minute to put the Bears ahead, 1-0.  Jessica Smits added her third assist of the season on the play to lead all defenders in the category.  Aguilar's goal was the eventual game winner, the fifth of her career, tying her for fourth all-time in Missouri State history.

In the 80th minute, sophomore Kelsey Finders recorded her second goal of the season.  Finders' goal gave the Bears a two goal cushion in the waning minutes.  Nia Williams assisted on the goal for her first career point.

The Missouri State offense mustered 13 shots in the match.  Megan Jaskowiak led the squad with three of those shots.  Claire Hulcer and Jenna Dobkins each added two shots for the Bears.

Goalkeeper Jessica Teahan made her 16th start of the season and made five saves for the win.  Freshman Chelsea Voet made her third appearance of the season in relief as she entered the match in the 73rd minute.  Voet made four saves to preserve the shutout.  The Bears have now recorded eight shutouts on the season.

Murray State 1, Evansville 0
MURRAY, Ky. -- Murray State's Kalli McCoy scored the only goal of the match at 13:37 to give the Racers a 1-0 women's soccer victory today over the University of Evansville. 
 
Sunday's match ended a four-game road trip for Evansville, and sends the Purple Aces into Thursday's home match against Missouri Valley Conference opponent Creighton with a 5-11 record.  Murray State is now 7-7-2.  Danielle McMurray set up the winning goal with her crossing pass that McCoy turned on and sent into the net past Evansville goalkeeper Chaviel Harrison.  Both teams ended up with a total of 14 shots.  The Racers put six on goal and Evansville had five shots on goal, led by two from Katelyn Smith.