DETROIT (9/1/2021) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's soccer team heads to the Volunteer state for a pair of road matches this weekend, beginning with Thursday's non-league contest with Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro. The match is slated for an 8 p.m. ET start and may be seen live via Conference USA TV.

The Titans (1-3) stay in Tennessee for the next match, visiting Belmont on Sunday in a 1 p.m. ET and 12 p.m. local match time in Nashville. The contest against the Bruins is set to be streamed live on ESPN-Plus. It's the start of four-straight matches away from Titan Field for the red, white and blue.

Last Time Out
Detroit Mercy earned a 1-0 victory over Saginaw Valley State in its home opener on Sunday, with freshman forward Erica Leinweber scoring her first collegiate goal in the 11th minute of the match for the lone goal of the game. Sophomore goalkeeper Marisa Silver made six saves total in her first start of the season to help preserve the shutout victory -- her second shutout in her Titan career.

Points for Piechocki
The Titan active leader in goals (11), assists (8) and points (30), senior midfielder Julie Ann Piechocki has found the back of the net often during her Detroit Mercy career. Piechocki had two game-winning goals in Titan victories during the shortened 2021 spring season and has four game-winning goals in her career, at least one in each season entering fall 2021. She has led the squad in scoring in each of the past three seasons, totaling five goals, six assists and 16 points as a freshman in 2018 and then tying for the team lead with six points (two goals, two assists) with Hailey Wentzloff in 2019. She led the team with two goals and four points during a shortened season in spring 2021.

This season, Piechocki leads the squad with two goals and four points, while also pacing the team in shots on net (five). She is second with six shots.

All-Time Series
It's the first meetings between the Titans and both Middle Tennessee State and Belmont. The Bruins used to be a member of the Horizon League for men's soccer only from 2014-17.

Scouting Middle Tennessee State / Belmont
The Blue Raiders are 1-2-1 on the season with their victory coming over Belmont in a 1-0 win. MTSU also tied Samford, 1-1, before dropping a road match at Mississippi, 4-2, and then falling at home to Evansville by a 3-2 margin. The Blue Raiders have played three of four matches at home this season entering Thursday's match with the Titans. Peyton DePriest leads the team in scoring with three goals and six points. Hannah Suder has started three matches in net and holds a 70.6% save percentage.

Belmont is 1-3 overall heading into the weekend, with a victory coming over Chattanooga, 2-1, in its lone home match this season. The Bruins also have shutout road losses to Middle Tennessee (1-0), Evansville (3-0) and Georgia (5-0). Belmont hosts Houston Baptist on Thursday prior to the match against the Titans on Sunday. Leah Firsdon leads the team with three points (one goal, one assist) and in net, Sarah Doyle has made three starts and sports a 74.1% save percentage, making 20 saves thus far.

2021 #HLWSOC Preseason Poll
The Titans were picked to finish 11th in the Horizon League Women's Soccer Preseason Poll, which is voted on by the league's head coaches. Detroit Mercy received 41 points total, which was just one point behind Purdue Fort Wayne and five votes back of Youngstown State, which was selected to place eighth.

Milwaukee, the defending Horizon League champions, received nine of the 12 first-place votes and were selected to finish first in the preseason poll with 130 total points, 10 points ahead of Northern Kentucky (120 points). Oakland (112), UIC (111) and IUPUI (104) rounded out the top five in the coaches' poll.

Up Next
Following its trip to Tennessee, the Titans have two more road matches away from Detroit with the red, white and blue playing against ACC foe Notre Dame on Thursday, Sept. 9 in South Bend, Indiana. Detroit Mercy then opens Horizon League play the following Thursday, visiting Northern Kentucky on Sept. 16.