The University of Illinois Springfield men's soccer team starts postseason play on Sunday in the GLVC Tournament. The six-seed Prairie Stars will face three-seed Maryville at 1 p.m. in St. Louis, Mo.
 
The Prairie Stars are making their third straight GLVC Tournament appearance, and are searching for their first trip to the GLVC Semifinals. In UIS's first appearance in 2017, it fell to Lewis by a 2-1 margin. Last season, McKendree defeated UIS by a 3-0 margin in the first round.
 
UIS (9-7-2, 7-6-2)
UIS enters the GLVC Tournament with the longest winning streak in the conference. The Prairie Stars have won four straight matches, and in that span they have outscored the opposition by a 10-2 margin.
 
The Prairie Stars finished the regular season with nine wins, tying last year's record for most wins since the program moved to the NCAA level. UIS is eighth in the GLVC with 1.56 goals a game, and it is sixth with a 1.19 GAA.
 
Mario Falsone is the team leader with six goals, five assists, and 17 points. Drew Keller is second with five goals, all coming over the last 10 contests. Pijus Petkevicius is the team's goalie, and he has a 1.19 GAA and a .741 save percentage. Over the last five games, he has a 0.60 GAA and a .813 save percentage.
 
About Maryville (14-2-2, 11-2-2)
Maryville enters the GLVC Tournament ranked No. 17 in NCAA Division II. It won its final three games of the season, and is on a six-game unbeaten streak.
 
Maryville is averaging over two goals a game, ranking third in the conference with a 2.06 average. The Saints are second in the GLVC with a 0.54 GAA.
 
Braden Johnson currently ranks fifth in the GLVC with 0.62 goals a game, and is sixth with 1.38 points a game. Mirza Hasecic and Grady Schliepsiek each have five goals. Max Simonazzi has started the last six games in goal, and in seven games this season, he has a 0.30 GAA and a .909 save percentage.
 
UIS vs. Maryville Series History
UIS leads the all-time series against Maryville by a 7-4-2 margin, including a 5-4-2 record since both teams were in the GLVC. In St. Louis, the Prairie Stars have a 4-2-0 all-time mark.

Earlier This Season
Maryville won the regular season meeting between the two teams by a 3-0 margin in St. Louis, Mo. Maryville led 1-0 with a goal in the 21^st minute, and that was the only goal until late in the game. After UIS brought more players forward to try to tie the game, the Saints scored twice in the final 13 minutes to make the final score look worse than it was.
 
UIS was outshot in the game by a 10-3 margin, including a 7-0 mark in shots on goal. Maryville had five corner kicks, compared to four for the Prairie Stars.
 
Up Next
The winner of this first-round game will advance to GLVC Semifinals on Friday, November 15, in Jeffersonville, Ind. They will be taking on the winner of the Bellarmine/Lindenwood contest. The GLVC Championship game will be on Saturday, November 17, in Jeffersonville.