CHICAGO – The Drake University women's soccer team visits Loyola Saturday evening in a battle between first place teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. First kick at Loyola Soccer Complex is 7 p.m. and the match will be broadcast on ESPN3.
 
Drake (5-7-0, 2-0-0 MVC), Loyola (5-5-1, 2-0-0 MVC) and Evansville (4-7-1, 2-0-0 MVC) are at the top of the MVC standings after two weeks of league play.
 
In its conference home opener Saturday, Drake shutout Illinois State, 2-0, for its first back-to-back regular season victories over the Redbirds since 2004 and 2005. The win over the Redbirds is also the first home win in the series for Drake since 2004. Freshman Alison Walls (Kansas City, Mo.) broke open a scoreless contest with her third goal of the year in the 65^th minute. Shortly after Walls' score, sophomore Olivia Bruce (Lakeville, Minn.) sealed it with her third goal this season, coming in the 67^th minute.
 
Drake recorded back-to-back shutouts in consecutive MVC matches (Valparaiso, Illinois State), it is the first time this has happened since the 2015 season when that team ended the regular season with three-straight clean sheets. Sophomore goalkeeper Kelsie Stone (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) had seven saves in the two wins, including some key saves versus the Redbirds.
 
Loyola scored eight goals in its two league victories over Indiana State and UNI. Senior Jenna Szczesny netted four of those scores and is tied for the MVC lead in goals with seven. Saturday's match will be the 14^th all-time in the head-to-head series with Drake up 7-3-3.
 
Following Saturday's game, Drake hosts Evansville Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. at the Cownie Soccer Complex.