The Blue Raiders will look to build off of a strong season that saw them go 20-2-2 and 7-0 in the Mid-South Conference before losing in the NAIA National Championship match 3-0 to Spring Arbor University (Mich.). It was the second-straight appearance in the title game. The Blue Raiders outscored their opponents 88-20 last season.
The Blue Raiders return their top two goal scorers from last season in Yvonne Ploeg and Lyana Perez.
Ploeg is coming off an outstanding freshman campaign in 2015. The reigning Mid-South Conference Freshman of the Year scored 24 goals last year which was tied for sixth best in Blue Raider history. Her 55 points were seventh best in program history and her eight game winning goals tied a program high.
Perez is coming off a strong season where she was a first team NAIA All-American. She had 19 goals and a total of 40 points.
The Blue Raiders also return their top goalkeeper from last year in Johanna Henriksson. Henriksson started all 24 games only allowing 20 goals while making 56 saves. She also recorded nine shutouts.
Tuesday’s matchup is just the second time the Blue Raiders have played Mount Vernon Nazarene. The first matchup came last season on Aug 22. The Blue Raiders were victorious by a score of 3-0. Perez and Ploeg combined for all three goals in the game.
Mount Vernon Nazarene opened up their season with a 1-0 victory over SCAD Savannah (Ga.) on Aug 20. Last season, Mount Vernon Nazarene went 10-7-2 losing in the Crossroads League Quarterfinals.
Live video and live stats are available for the contest, along with Twitter updates from @LWCAthletics.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT at Walter S. Reuling Stadium.