SLU WOMEN'S SOCCER GAME NOTES & INFORMATION
Game 4	Saint Louis (2-1) at Illinois (1-0-2)
Date // Time	Thursday, August 27, 2026 // 6 p.m.
Location	Champaign, Ill. (Demirjian Park)
Watch	Big Ten Network
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	Saint Louis | Illinois

Billiken Schedule
Billiken Roster

BILLIKENS, FIGHTING ILLINI MEET FOR FIRST TIME IN A DECADE
• Saint Louis (2-1) carries a two-game winning streak into a match against Illinois (1-0-2) Thursday, Aug. 27. Kickoff at Demirjian Field in Champaign, Ill., is slated for 6 p.m.
• The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.
• Playing its first game in a week, SLU is coming off a 1-0 victory at Missouri last Thursday. That followed a 5-0 rout of Lindenwood and a 2-1 loss to Alabama.
• Illinois sandwiched a 2-1 win over Cincinnati with scoreless draws vs. then-No. 19 Georgia and, most recently, Illinois-Chicago.
• Illinois is the first of two Big Ten Conference opponents for Saint Louis. The Billikens play at Indiana Sunday afternoon.
• The SLU-Illinois match is the second of four consecutive road contests for the Bills.
 
SERIES HISTORY
• Saint Louis and Illinois are meeting for the first time since 2016. The series is tied 3-3, with each team holding a 2-1 edge on its home field.
• The teams met twice in 2006, both times in St. Louis. The Billikens won the regular-season meeting 2-1 in double overtime in September, and the Fighting Illini captured a 4-1 victory in an NCAA Championship second-round game in November.
• Here is the complete series history:
                             10/21/97 – SLU 3, at Illinois 1
                             10/27/04 – at Illinois 2, SLU 1 (2 ot)
                             9/14/06 – at SLU 2, Illinois 1 (2 ot)
                             11/12/06 – Illinois 4, at SLU 1
                             8/30/15 – at Illinois 3, SLU 1
                             8/28/16 – at SLU 1, Illinois 0
 
TRADITION OF BALANCED SCORING CONTINUING
• The 2026 season is just three games old, but the Billikens already are showing signs of their traditional balanced attack. Five of SLU's seven goals have been assisted, and all five have featured a different player combination.
• Five players have accounted for the Bills' seven goals, and 10 Billikens have at least one point. Audrey Smith and Jeanette Fieldsend lead with two goals apiece, and Hope Kim has a team-high two assists. Fieldsend has added an assist for a team-high five points.

SAINT LOUIS CELEBRATING 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN'S SOCCER PROGRAM'S INCEPTION
• The 2026 season marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of Billiken women's soccer.
• SLU's Saturday, Oct. 17, game vs. Richmond will include a 30th anniversary celebration, coupled with the return of Billiken women's soccer alumni.
• Also, SLUBillikens.com is featuring once-a-week stories highlighting the program's 11 members of the Billiken Hall of Fame. Click here to read the series' third installment featuring goalkeeper Meghann Burke, the program's first All-American.
• The Billikens played their first game on Aug. 31, 1996, defeating Central Missouri 9-0.
 
BILLIKENS LAND IN SECOND PLACE IN A-10 PRESEASON POLL
• Saint Louis was picked to finish second in the 2026 Atlantic 10 Conference women's soccer race in preseason balloting by A-10 head coaches. The Billikens received three of 14 first-place votes and totaled 182 of a possible 196 points.
• Graduate defender Camille Welker and sophomore defender Blakely Hockett were selected to the 11-member preseason All-Conference team.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• Jeanette Fieldsend's penalty-kick goal in the 17th minute was enough for Saint Louis in a 1-0 victory at Missouri Aug. 20.
• Fieldsend converted her second penalty kick in as many tries. With the Billikens attacking, action continued after Hope Kim was tackled just inside the box. But after SLU challenged the play, the referee awarded a PK following video review.
• Emma Parker made three saves, including one with less than two minutes remaining, to record her first solo shutout of the year and 10th of her career.
 
A LOOK AT THE 2026 BILLIKENS
• Among the Billikens' returning players is sophomore midfielder/forward Caroline Chier (1G, 6A), the 2025 A-10 co-Rookie of the Year. Sophomore forward Adee Broesder (5G, 3A), SLU's leading returning point-scorer, and sophomore defender Blakely Hockett (2G) joined Chier on the All-Rookie team.
• Also back this season are key offensive threats in junior forwards Hope Kim (4G, 4A) and Audrey Smith (5G, 1A) and senior midfielder Lucie Schwartz (3G, 1A).
• Junior goalkeeper Emma Parker (0.92 GAA, .721 save percentage) returns after starting all 20 games a year ago, joining first XI mainstays in graduate defender Camille Welker (20 starts) and junior midfielder Ashley Miller (19 starts).
• Also returning are senior midfielder Nina Preusser, junior goalkeeper Nimu Karani, sophomore midfielder/defender Ava Rademeyer, sophomore forward Addison Stanciak and sophomore defender Ava Scorfina.
• Eleven newcomers – four transfers and seven freshmen – joined the Billiken program this year. The transfers are senior midfielder Jeanette Fieldsend (James Madison), senior defender Caroline Fowlkes (College of Charleston), sophomore goalkeeper Pepper Escher (Massachusetts) and sophomore defender Avery Rasmussen (Kansas). The Saint Louis freshman class consists of defender Hana Allen, forward Keira Bartholet, forward Gianna Harris, defender Lucy Marsh, forward/midfielder Emma Naftanel, forward Leah Simpson and defender Lauren Zangara.
 
HEAD COACH KATIE SHIELDS
• Now in her 14th season as Saint Louis' head coach, Katie Shields owns a 184-66-24 (.715) overall record (all at Saint Louis). Shields' .716 winning percentage at the beginning of the season ranked sixth among all active NCAA Division I women's soccer coaches, and second among active Division I female coaches, who have coached a minimum of five seasons at the Division I level.
 
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
• Illinois was picked to finish ninth among 18 teams in the 2026 Big Ten preseason poll. Last year, the Fighting Illini were 13-6-2 overall, tied for sixth (5-4-2) in the conference, earned an NCAA Championship at-large bid and finished No. 38 in the RPI.
• Fifth-year goalkeeper Izzy Lee and junior forwards Cayla Jackson and Emma Yee were named to the Big Ten Players to Watch List.
• Jackson and senior forward Hedda Ornberg have one goal apiece. Jackson, sophomore forward Ashlyn Adams and junior midfielder Alyssa White have one assist each.
• Lee has played every minute in goal and carries a 0.33 goals against average, a .900 save percentage and two shutouts.
• Illinois has outshot its opponents 37-21.