Milwaukee City Wire

The Milwaukee Panthers women's soccer team will return to Engelmann Stadium on Sunday, hosting SIUE for a non-conference matchup at 1 p.m. The game follows the Panthers' recent win over Minnesota and marks their only home appearance this week. No video stream will be available, but live statistics can be accessed through the team's website.

The series between Milwaukee and SIUE resumed last season after a long break, with Milwaukee now holding a 2-1-0 advantage following last fall's 3-1 victory. Previous meetings included a 5-2 Milwaukee win in 1993 and a 1-0 SIUE victory in 1984.

Milwaukee enters the match after securing its third consecutive sweep of Horizon League regular-season and tournament titles under head coach Kevin Boyd. The program has won nine regular-season league titles in the past ten years and made its 18th NCAA Tournament appearance, earning the Horizon League's automatic berth for the 17th time.

SIUE comes into Sunday's game with a 1-6-1 record for the current season, having lost six straight matches after starting with one win and one draw. Last year, SIUE finished with a 2-7-7 overall record (1-3-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play) and was picked to finish seventh in this year's preseason poll. Goalkeeper Sarah Bozeman is among those highlighted as players to watch from around the league. Head coach Derek Burton is in his 18th season leading SIUE, compiling an overall record of 125-118-42. Under his leadership, SIUE has reached five NCAA Tournaments, including three consecutive appearances from 2020 to 2022.

For Milwaukee, Ashlyn Skinner-Barrett and Bella Hollenbach recently swept Horizon League Player of the Week honors after their performances against Minnesota—Skinner-Barrett scoring the winning goal late in the match and Hollenbach making ten saves, eight of which came in the second half.

Mallory McGuire contributed goals against both Northwestern and North Carolina at the end of August, while Zoey Pagels earned Offensive Player of the Week recognition by scoring twice against Northern Iowa during a commanding victory early in the season.

Through seven games this year, Milwaukee has faced three teams ranked in the national Top 25 when played. Their opponents have combined for a strong overall record (30 wins, .677 winning percentage), reflecting one of the tougher schedules nationally for non-conference play.

Head coach Kevin Boyd has led Milwaukee to continued success since joining prior to the start of the decade. In his first three seasons, he guided MKE to repeated conference crowns and NCAA Tournament berths; last year’s squad went nearly undefeated (9-0-1) within conference play while posting strong offensive numbers and defensive shutouts across multiple categories.

Despite graduating several key seniors—including league award winners—the team returns experienced starters such as Kristina Karlof and Jenni Andjelic. This season’s roster features six players who started at least seventeen games last year.

Milwaukee was selected as preseason favorite by league coaches for this year's Horizon League title race—receiving all but one first-place vote—and has now been chosen atop that poll twenty-two times since 2000.

Nationally since 2017, Milwaukee ranks among top Division I programs by winning percentage (.799), trailing only schools such as UCLA (.832), Stanford (.831), Florida State (.822), and North Carolina (.818).

At Engelmann Stadium since 2015, Milwaukee holds an .857 home winning percentage (74 wins). Under Boyd’s leadership at home specifically, they are unbeaten in most contests with only five losses since taking over as head coach.

The program achieved top rankings nationally last year just outside or within several Top 10 categories including assists per game (11th), points per game (11th), scoring offense (11th), total assists (12th), total points (15th), total goals (17th), shots on goal per game (22nd) and shots per game (25th).

Recent postseason honors include Lainey Higgins being named Horizon League Player of the Year; Kayla Rollins as Offensive Player of the Year; Parker Donahugh receiving Goalkeeper of the Year; plus six Panthers on All-Horizon League First Team—a new program high.

Milwaukee opens its conference schedule next week with road games starting Thursday at Robert Morris.