Unbeaten in its four-game stretch on the road to open the 2017 season, the Milwaukee women's soccer team finally gets the chance to play at home this weekend. That starts Friday when the Panthers host Western Illinois, looking to set a new school mark if they can post a fifth shutout in a row. The weekend rounds out with a visit from Indiana State Sunday afternoon.

The Panthers - who are now ranked No. 12 in the United Soccer Coaches Great Lakes Regional poll - are 14-11-2 all-time in home openers after topping Akron, 1-0, last season. They welcome the Leathernecks to Engelmann Friday, scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m. It will be a busy night at the field, with the annual "Fall Welcome Tailgate" for UWM students also scheduled for that evening at 6 p.m. UWM students can partake in games and food samples from sponsors of Milwaukee Athletics in the adjoining parking lot. The pregame festivities serve as a "welcome back" to students.

Matt Schroeder will have the call for both games over the course of the weekend on ESPN3. Both games will also have live statistics available and all links are on the UWM website. Sunday's kick-off time is set for 2 p.m. against the Sycamores.

The Panthers are a perfect 4-0 all-time against Western Illinois, actually not allowing a goal in the series. Wins include 2016 (4-0), 2015 (1-0), 2011 (4-0) and 1997 (16-0). Milwaukee is also perfect against ISU, but the series consists of just one game. That was played in 2007, a 3-0 win at home for the Panthers.

LOOKING AT THE OPPONENTS:
WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Leathernecks are coming off a 4-11-2 record a season ago and have dropped all three of their contests to open the 2017 slate. Included in that stretch are shutout losses to SIUE (1-0), North Dakota (4-0) and Northern Illinois (1-0).

WIU returns a total of 22 players from a year ago, welcoming nine newcomers for 2017. The roster features 16 underclassmen made up of eight freshmen and seven sophomores, with a junior class of 11, and a senior class that features five.

INDIANA STATE: The Sycamores are off to a 2-1-1 start to 2017, topping Horizon League foes UIC (2-0) and Northern Kentucky (2-1). The loss was to Purdue (6-0) and the draw was to Eastern Illinois (1-1). Reilly Teal leads the way with a pair of goals. Hannah Sullivan has played every minute on goal, posting a 1.89 goals-against average. The team welcomes 10 freshmen and three transfers to the roster.

Indiana State finished of the 2016 season with a 7-11-2 record overall posting a 2-3-1 record in Missouri Valley Conference play. Second-year head coach Julie Hanley led ISU to their first conference tournament appearance since 2013 after a fourth-place finish in the regular season. ISU had five players earn all-league honors.

AN OPENING STATEMENT
The Panthers have tied the school record by opening the season with four consecutive shutouts. The only other time that has been accomplished was by the 2009 team. That year, with Jamie Forbes in goal, Milwaukee opened the season with 0-0 draws against Northwestern and Wisconsin, before topping Michigan, 6-0, and Rice by a score of 1-0. No other team in program history started with even as many as three clean sheets in a row.

FOR OPENERS
The Panthers opened the season on the road, and now carry an all-time record of 10-15-3 in season openers at the NCAA Division I level and a tally of 7-11-2 in road openers following the scoreless draw against Akron. The team has now gone 2-2-2 in season openers the past six years, with a 1-0 victory over Western Illinois in Troy Fabiano's debut in 2015 snapping a three-game stretch without a victory. UWM had not tied in a season opener since a 0-0 OT2 decision against No. 24 South Carolina to open the 2012 campaign.

AND THE WINNER IS ...
For Mallory Geurts, posting shutouts is starting to become routine. She is approaching Jamie Forbes mark for longest scoreless streak to begin a season - Geurts starts the week at 380:00, while Forbes made it to 411:06 back in 2009 before allowing a goal in game No. 5 to Marquette. In doing so, Geurts picked up Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week honors - the first Panther to ever earn back-to-back defensive accolades.

The longest overall shutout streak by a goalkeeper is still down the road. The record for UWM is 717:10 by Erin Kane back in 2005. Geurts would need to eclipse 550 minutes to break into the Top 5 on that list.

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS
The Panthers blanked the Zips to open 2017, marking the third season in a row the defense held its opponent from hitting the back of the net. The team posted a shutout in the 2016 season opener, a 1-0 win over Akron in newcomer Mallory Geurts' UWM debut in net. In addition to being what was then the second consecutive season that Milwaukee opened with a shutout win, it also marked the first clean sheet for a goalie making her UWM debut since Jamie Forbes in 2009 (0-0 draw at Northwestern).

MORE HONORS
Lourdes Onwuemeka picked up Horizon League Offensive Player of the Week honors Aug. 28 after playing a key role in UWM's 2-0 weekend. She scored the only goal in UWM's 1-0 win over Southeast Missouri Friday and followed that up with the assist on the game-winner in Sunday's 2-0 win at Eastern Illinois. She finished the two games with five shots, all on goal. The league honor is the second of her UWM career.

ROAD TRIPPIN'
The Panthers opened the 2017 campaign in near-unprecedented style. The team played its first four games away from Engelmann Stadium (six counting the pair of exhibition contests) - the second-longest stretch to open a season in program history. The longest was a five-game swing away from Milwaukee in 1996, while a four-game stretch on the road also occurred in 2010 and 2014. The Panthers traveled (counting the exhibition season) over 4,000 miles and into four different states before playing on their home turf this season.

SETTING THE BAR
Not only has Troy Fabiano picked up a pair of Horizon League Coach of the Year honors in his two season at the helm, but his 24 victories set a new standard for the most wins over the first two years of any coach in program history. The two-dozen wins eclipses the 23 recorded by Michael Moynihan over the course of his first two seasons (13 in 1997 and 10 more in 1998).

EXHIBITION SEASON REWIND
Milwaukee played a pair of exhibition contests this year, posting a 1-1-0 record. Just a few days into a return to training, the team claimed a 2-0 victory over Loyola, with Lourdes Onwuemeka netting a goal just 4:35 into the action and getting that backed up by a goal from Maddie Tetzke before intermission. Then, in their second exhibition, the Panthers dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision to Illinois State. Mackenzie Schill netted a late goal, but the 2-0 deficit was too much to overcome against the MVC champs. In goal, Mallory Geurts allowed one goal and made one save in 45 minutes of playing time, while Olivia Davies allowed a goal and made three saves in 135 minutes of game time to post a 0.67 goals-against average. Tetzke recorded a team-best three shots to lead the offense in the two games.

PRESEASON POLL
A year after repeating as Horizon League champions and claiming its 16th regular-season title in the past 17 years, the Milwaukee women's soccer team has been picked by league coaches to again take first in the upcoming Horizon League regular season, according to the results of the preseason poll.

The Panthers tallied five first-place votes and 86 points in the coaches' poll to claim the No. 1 spot. They were tied with Northern Kentucky, who also garnered the same 86 points and five first-place votes. Detroit Mercy (73) was next in line in third place, with Oakland (66) just behind the Titans in fourth. Wright State (59) was next and UIC (53) closed out that grouping in sixth place.
 
Milwaukee was picked to finish second in the preseason poll a year ago before going on to claim the crown once again. The team went 13-5-2 overall, topping the league at 8-1-0.
 
1.  Milwaukee (5)   86
2.  Northern Kentucky (5) 86
3.  Detroit Mercy 73
4.  Oakland 66
5.  Wright State 59
6.  UIC 53
7.  IUPUI  42
8. Youngstown State 34
9. Cleveland State 32
10. Green Bay 18

WELCOME TO MILWAUKEE
There will once again be plenty of chances for newcomers to make an impression in 2017. A season ago, 14 of the 34 players on the roster were making their UWM debuts. This year, 11 of the 30 student-athletes will be appearing in a Panther uniform for the first time (nine true freshmen and a pair of redshirt freshmen). Newcomers earned 21 total starts last campaign, with McKaela Schmelzer accounting for nearly all (20) of them on her way to earning Horizon League Freshman of the Year and All-Freshman Team honors.

Schmelzer became the 13th freshman to start every team game for the Panthers in her first season, and the first since Emily Scott did so in 2011 (22 games). Sarah Hagen (23 games in 2008) was the last to do it before Scott.

THAT'S TWO
Milwaukee started the season in impressive fashion a year ago, posting victories over Akron and Northern Illinois. That marked the first 2-0 start to a new campaign since 2011's 6-0 start.

NOTHING SMALL ABOUT IT
Anna Smalley earned Second-Team National Soccer Coaches Association All-Region and First-Team Horizon League All-Conference honors a year ago, scoring a team-high 26 points. She tallied a league-best 11 goals to go along with four assists, netting three game-winners. Her 26 points finished just one off the Horizon League lead and marked the most for a Panther since Krissy Dorre had 27 in 2013.

LET'S GET CRACKING
The offense should be in good shape, with Milwaukee set to return nine of the top 11 point scorers from a year ago, led by Anna Smalley. Aubrey Krahn (13 points on 4G/5A) and Jen Eberhardy (10 points on 2G/6A) make it a trio of returners to record double-figures in points.

On defense, Mallory Geurts paced the Horizon League with her 0.75 goals-against average. She will have a veteran presence in front of her, with Cassidy Blanchard - the 2015 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year - and McKaela Schmelzer both regular starters a season ago. Erin Corrigan will also rejoin the backline a year after missing the season to injury.

GOOD UP AND DOWN
One look at the team statistics following the conclusion of the 2016 campaign sees Milwaukee at the top of nearly every category across the Horizon League, whether you are looking at offensive or defensive statistics - most by overwhelming margins.

The potent UWM offense led the conference in points with 153 (second was 106), goals with 48 (second was 34), assists with 57 (second was 38) and shots with 17.5 per contest (13.3 was runner-up). Defensively, it was Milwaukee again leading the way in goals-against average at 0.72 (second was 1.08), fewest goals allowed at 15 (23) and shutouts at nine (8).

WELL-REPRESENTED
The Panthers had five different players earn postseason honors last year, highlighted by a trio of first-team all-league honorees and two specialty award winners - McKaela Schmelzer was selected the Horizon League Freshman of the Year and Troy Fabiano repeated as the Horizon League Coach of the Year.

The three first-team selections included Maria Stephans (a repeat selection from 2015 and a second-team honoree in 2014), as well as Anna Smalley and Callie O'Donnell (both were second-team members a year ago). Rounding out the list was Cassidy Blanchard on the second team, a year removed from first-team honors. Schmelzer rounded out the list with All-Freshman honors.

A WIN IS A WIN IS A WIN
The Panthers have made a habit out of winning games by a final score of 1-0 the past two seasons. Callie O'Donnell lifted UWM past Oakland on a lone goal Oct. 8 to make four 1-0 wins last season and 10 (of the 24) since Troy Fabiano took over as the head coach before the start of the 2015 campaign.

GEURTS GOOD AT ANY LEVEL
Mallory Geurts came to Milwaukee from Parkside, following a sophomore season in which she led the nation with a 0.27 goals-against average at the NCAA Division II level. So far with the Panthers, she has been stellar - as a junior she led the Horizon League with a 0.75 goals-against average (the only sub-1.00 GAA in the league!) and a .827 save percentage. She was named Horizon League Defensive Player of the Week Sept. 26 following a 1-0 shutout of Northern Kentucky on the road and again Oct. 17 following another shutout over Wright State.

RANDOM STAT OF THE DAY
Anna Smalley scored in back-to-back games at the end of September, tallying her sixth and seventh goals of the season to take over the team lead at the time. Her 109th-minute goal against Detroit Mercy Oct. 1 marked the eighth game-winner of her career. The final score was 1-0 ... which must sound familiar for Smalley. Of her eight career game-winners, FIVE of them have come in games that UWM won by a final scoreline of 1-0.

THIS GUY IS FAB-ULOUS
Troy Fabiano was named the eighth head coach in program history in early 2015 and brought with him a very impressive resume. In his 17 years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Fabiano went 222-74-29, a winning percentage of over 75 percent. Fabiano guided Parkside to 16 consecutive winning seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances and five Great Lakes Valley Conference championships. He earned three GLVC Coach of the Year awards, and was named the Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2008, 2010 and 2014. In his last season of 2014, the squad went 18-1-3 and earned a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 before falling to the eventual national champion in overtime.

CATCH THEM ANYWHERE
Milwaukee women's soccer will be readily available for the viewing pleasure of UWM fans this season, as all nine home games will be streamed live on ESPN3. The Horizon League and ESPN have an agreement that includes ESPN hosting the league's digital network on the ESPN3 platform. ESPN3 is available to nearly 116.3 million homes.

ON TAP
The schedule sees a home game and a road contest on it next week, starting with a Friday trek down to DeKalb, Ill., to take on Northern Illinois. Game time is set for 5 p.m.