SLU WOMEN'S SOCCER GAME NOTES & INFORMATION
Game 2	#23/15 Saint Louis vs. #4/10 BYU
Date // Time	Thursday, August 22, 2024 // 7 p.m.
Location	St. Louis, Mo. (Robert R. Hermann Stadium)
Watch	ESPN+
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	Saint Louis | BYU

•Two teams picked to win their respective leagues meet Thursday, Aug. 22, as No. 23 Saint Louis hosts No. 4 BYU in an important early-season non-conference match. Game time at Robert R. Hermann Stadium is 7 p.m.
•Live streaming and live stats are available. See the links above.
•SLU comes in ranked 23rd by United Soccer Coaches and 15th by Top Drawer Soccer, while BYU is No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and No. 10 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll. The Cougars are the highest-ranked opponent the Billikens have ever faced at home and second highest overall (at No. 3 Maryland in 2011).
•SLU, aiming for a sixth regular-season conference crown in seven years, is a unanimous choice to capture the Atlantic 10 Conference title. Seven starters and 10 additional players return for the Billikens, who were 19-3-2 overall and 9-0-1 in the A-10 and reached the NCAA Championship round of 16 a year ago.
•BYU is a narrow favorite to claim the Big 12 Conference championship, garnering nine of 16 first-place votes and edging Texas Tech by one point in the league's preseason coaches' poll. In its initial Big 12 campaign a year ago, BYU posted records of 20-3-3 overall and 7-0-3 in conference play, finished second in the regular-season standings and at the Big 12 Championship, and reached the NCAA Championship semifinals.
•Both teams were idle over the weekend after opening the season Aug. 15. Saint Louis tied Kansas City 0-0 in a weather-shortened match, while BYU defeated then-No. 19 Wisconsin 1-0 on a goal in the 17th minute.
•In last year's season opener, BYU edged SLU 3-2 in Provo, Utah, in the first-ever meeting between the teams. Emily Gaebe's goal (Izzy Luebbert assist) in the 86th minute gave the Billikens a chance, but the Cougars held on for the victory. Emily Puricelli made 11 saves, the second-highest total of her career.
•Saint Louis is 72-8-8 (.864) in its last 88 games at Hermann Stadium, a stretch that dates to the final home game of the 2015 campaign.
•SLU is the only NCAA Division I women's team in the nation this season that features three players who have earned United Soccer Coaches All-America honors – Lyndsey Heckel (first team in 2022, second team in 2023), Emily Gaebe (first team in 2023) and Emily Puricelli (third team in 2022).
•In addition, Gaebe (2023) and Heckel (2022) have been semifinalists (top 15) for the MAC Hermann Trophy. Texas is the only other team with two previous Hermann Trophy semifinalists on its 2024 roster.
•The Billikens' 2024 roster includes six 5th-year players. Returners Emily Puricelli, Hannah Larson, Katie Houck, Lyndsey Heckel and Sophia Stram are joined by Elise Le, who transferred to Saint Louis following four seasons at Xavier.
•Five of SLU's top seven point-scorers from a year ago are back. Leading the way is Emily Gaebe, who tallied a school-record 16 goals and added nine assists for a school-record 41 points. Also in that group are Hannah Larson (7G, 9A), Hannah Sawyer (10G, 2A), Lyndsey Heckel (4G, 4A) and Julia Simon (3G, 4A). Izzy Luebbert's eight assists were the team's second-highest total.
•Emily Puricelli owns SLU career marks for wins (67), shutouts (41) and goalkeeper minutes (7,744) and is second in career goals against average (0.64) and saves (265). Puricelli posted a 0.64 GAA, an .864 save percentage and 11 solo shutouts in 2023.
•Emily Gaebe is in position to challenge three Saint Louis career records. Gaebe is second with 32 goals, trailing Jamie Perry (41); third with 82 points, chasing Hannah Friedrich's school mark of 105; and fifth with 219 shots, aiming for the record of 261 co-owned by Perry and Friedrich.
•BYU has two returning starters in Allie Fryer (10 goals in 2023) and Lynette Hernaez (1.00 GAA, .795 save percentage). Also back are Ellie Walbruch and Erin Bailey, who scored 11 and 10 goals, respectively.
•Saint Louis plays its first road game of the season Sunday, Aug. 25, at Missouri. First whistle is set for 7 p.m. The Billikens and Tigers squared off in each of SLU's first three seasons (1996-98) but have not met since.