The Drury Panthers continue their inaugural season in the GLVC with a pair of home matches this weekend. Tonights opponents are the Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville Cougars who bring their gaudy national rankings with them to Harrison Stadium.
The women’s match will open the evenings fireworks at 5pm. The Cougars own a 9-2-0 record and have moved up in the national rankings from 17 to 14 this week. They are ranked #2 in the Great Lakes Region, behind Grand Valley State (MI) and are one of six GLVC teams that own a regional ranking. The Lady Panthers have defeated the #3 (regional) N. Kentucky team (2-1 win), lost to #4 UMSL last week (0-2) and took #7 Bellarmine and #10 UW-Parkside to OT before losing by identical 1-2 scores. They are coming off of their 1-0 win against UMR on Monday evening and I’m looking forward to an entertaining match.
The Cougar men will take on the Panther’s at 7:30pm this evening following the women’s match. Edwardsville opened the season as the #1 team in the country, after making it to the National Championship match last year. They are currently at #2 with a record of 7-1-1 coming into tonights match and considered the #1 Great Lakes Region team, a list that includes seven other teams from the GLVC.
The Panther’s are 1-2-1 against ranked GLVC teams with the win coming Monday over #6 UMR 3-2 while they tied #10 UMSL last weekend 1-1. The losses came on the early season road trip when the lost to UW Parkside (#17 nationally, #3 regional) 0-1 and #8 Northern Kentucky 0-2.
I can’t imagine a better evening for watching quality college soccer as the weather is going to only get worst. Come out and support the Drury Panthers tonight!
Sunday will see the #10 Quincy Hawks visiting for games at noon and 2:30pm against the women and the men.
