It's a fairly "light" week in Missouri Valley women's soccer action, as a total of seven matches dot the slate between now and next Sunday.  Drake, meanwhile, sweeps this week's MVC Player of the Week honors as Laura Moklestad and Kalena Litch are this week's winners.

THIS WEEK -- Illinois State opens up league play with a road match at Drake on Sunday, while Creighton will look to extend its winning streak to seven matches with a road match at UNI on Saturday.  UNI is the busiest of league schools this week as the Panthers have non-conference tilts against Western Illinois and South Dakota, in addition to the Creighton match.  Indiana State and Missouri State also square off in league play.

PRESEASON POLL REVISITED -- Illinois State was picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference title in women's soccer in 2010.  The defending champion received 46 total points and four first-place votes to edge second-place Creighton (37 points) and third-place Missouri State (36) in the poll.

Team, Total Points

1. Illinois State .. 46

2. Creighton ........37

3. Missouri St.......36

4. Evansville........23

t5. Drake............19

t5. Indiana St.......19

7. UNI...............16

HOW WE DOIN? -- The Missouri Valley Conference turned in a near perfect non-conference slate last week, going 3-0-2 to move its season non-league mark to 31-28-9.  The plus-.500 non-league mark is news since the Valley has had only two winning non-conference marks since sponsorship of women's soccer began in 1996 (2001 and 2005).

Moklestad turned in a stellar week for the Bulldogs en route to helping Drake to a 1-0-1 mark, including a key 2-1 overtime triumph over Evansville in the MVC opener.  On the week, she led the Bulldogs in goals (2), points (4), shots (9), shots on goal (6) and game-winners (1).  In a 1-1 tie versus North Dakota State in a driving rainstorm last Thursday (Sept. 23), she paced Drake with a game- and team-high three shots.  Against Evansville, Moklestad was a one-woman wrecking crew scoring a pair of goals on a game- and season-high six shots.  Her first goal at the 52:00 mark erased a 1-0 Evansville lead and then her golden goal in the 99th minute (98:25) gave Drake a key conference triumph.

Litch was again solid in net for Drake as on the week, she collected nine saves, while owning a 0.86 goals against average in helping the Bulldogs to a 1-0-1 mark.  In the 1-1 tie versus North Dakota State Thursday, she posted three saves. She followed with six clutch saves, of which four came with the Bulldogs trailing 1-0, in a 2-1 overtime victory over Evansville.

CREIGHTON -- Brittney Neumann, last year’s MVC Freshman of the Year, is a major reason the Jays are on a six match winning streak.  Neumann took nine shots, scored a goal and had an assist through the two matches last week (a 3-0 victory over UMKC and a 2-0 win over Indiana State).  Her goal in the Indiana State match was the game winner and came in the 68th minute.  Alicia Montgomery recorded her third shutout of the season Sunday in a 2-0 MVC victory over Indiana State.  The third shutout ties her for second in the conference, and gives her 12 career shutouts.  

EVANSVILLE -- Sophomore goalkeeper Chaviel Harrison has made 11 saves in each of Evansville's last two matches.  Harrison now has 58 saves in 10 matches this season.  She's on target to become only the fourth player in UE history to record 100 saves in a season.

INDIANA STATE -- Alison Gasparovich continues to lead the Indiana State offense this season, scoring the team’s lone goal of the weekend against Valparaiso on Friday night, scoring just 80 seconds into the match. The junior midfielder leads the Missouri Valley Conference this season in goals (six) and points (15) and is tied for fifth in assists (three).  She now sits in seventh place in career points (27) and in a tie for sixth in career goals (11). In single season records, Gasparovich is now eighth in points (15) and tied for seventh in goals (6).

MISSOURI STATE -- Brooke Williams has scored five goals through the Bears’ first 11 matches, the most since Caroline Sweeney in 2006.  She is the first freshman to score five or more goals in a season since Kate Blair in 2004 (8 goals) and Williams has six matches remaining in the regular season.  Jordan Reppell has been stellar as the senior leader on the Bears’ defense throughout the season.  Reppell’s play helped Chelsea Voet earn her first collegiate victory on Sunday.  Michelle Sommer scored two goals on the weekend, including the game-winner in overtime at UMKC on Sunday.  It was her first career game-winning goal as a Bears.

NORTHERN IOWA -- Nicole Ferlito scored in the second minute against St. Ambrose University on Wednesday, setting the tone for a 3-1 UNI victory. Ferlito registered four shots and put three of those shots on goal in the Panthers' win.  Elizabeth Rodriguez stepped into the starting lineup in UNI's back row five games ago, and the Panthers are 2-2-1 since her arrival. UNI has allowed only three goals in its last four games with Rodriguez in the starting lineup.

CREIGHTON -- Creighton is on a six match win streak for the first time since 2002.  The only other winning streak in Bluejay history that was longer than six matches was a 10 match streak from September 11 to October 18, 1994.  The Jays have a 0.64 goals against average through the first 12 matches of the season, leading the MVC.  Last year Creighton set a new school record with a 0.55 goals against average.  Creighton is now 9-3-2 all-time in Valley conference openers, including winning the last five in a row.

DRAKE -- Drake's victory over Evansville on Sunday (Sept. 26) was the Bulldogs first this season of the non-shutout variety. Laura Moklestad's multi-goal effort was the first for a Drake player since Elizabeth Woerle's two-goal performance in a 3-0 win over South Dakota last season (9/13/09).  It also marked the initial multi-goal effort against an MVC opponent since Crystal Townley scored two goals in a 2-0 MVC Tournament win against Missouri State in 2007.

EVANSVILLE -- Freshman forward Breanna Beine scored for the second match in a row in Sunday's 2-1 loss at Drake.  She has a team-high three goals and seven points this season.  The Aces have their longest break of the season--10 days--between Sunday's 2-1 overtime loss at Drake and their next match on October 6 against Murray State.  Their next MVC match is October 9 at Creighton.

ILLINOIS STATE -- After a week off, the Illinois State soccer team will take a 4-5-0 record into Saturday’s match at Drake to open its Missouri Valley Conference schedule.  The Redbirds are looking to rebound after three-straight losses.  The all-time series between Illinois State and Drake is tied at 5-5-2 and the Redbirds have won the last five meetings, including a 2-0 victory last season at Adelaide Street Field.  The last Redbird goal came on Anna Stinson’s game-winner in the 17th minute at Northern Illinois on Sept. 10, marking a span of nearly 343 minutes that Illinois State has gone without a goal. 

INDIANA STATE -- With ISU’s 2-0 loss to Creighton on Sunday, Alison Gasparovich saw her streak of eight straight matches with at least one point come to an end. Indiana State travels to Missouri State on Friday in search of their first MVC win this season. ISU is 2-2 all-time in Springfield against the Bears.  After playing just one road game during the month of September, the Sycamores will be on the road several more times in October. Indiana State plays three matches in Terre Haute and four on the road during October.

MISSOURI STATE -- With Friday’s 2-1 win at UNI, the Bears move to 5-0-0 in conference openers against UNI since 2000.  Missouri State is undefeated in the last two seasons against this weekend’s opponents.  The Bears are 2-0-0 against SIU Edwardsville and have outscored the Cougars five goals to none.  MSU and ISU tied at 1-1 last season in Terre Haute, Ind., and the Bears won 4-0 in Springfield in 2008.

NORTHERN IOWA -- With wins over North Dakota State and St. Ambrose, UNI won back-to-back games for the first time since Sept. 26-28, 2008.  UNI scored two goals in the first three minutes of the game and went on to defeat St. Ambrose, 3-1, on Wednesday evening.  Three different Panthers scored their first goals of the season in the victory over St. Ambrose. Nicole Ferlito, Kala Negus and Claire Clark all found the back of the net.  UNI is in the middle of a five-game homestand. The Panthers will play three home matches this week, hosting Western Illinois, Creighton and South Dakota.