Eva Boer named to OVC Preseason Players to Watch List
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Women’s Soccer is projected to place sixth in the Ohio Valley Conference in a vote submitted by the league’s head coaches and communication directors.
The 10-team OVC will feature a schedule with each team playing each other once for a nine-match conference schedule. The OVC postseason tournament starts on campus sites with the first round and quarterfinal matches on October 30 and November 2, with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds hosting matches. The event switches to the site of the No. 1 seed the following weekend with semifinal and championship matches on November 6 and 9.
Tennessee Tech University, the 2024 OVC regular-season champions, topped the OVC preseason poll with 156 points and 14 first-place votes. Lindenwood University, the reigning OVC tournament champions, was picked second with 146 points and six first-place votes.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Morehead State University were selected third and fourth with 127 and 103 points, respectively. The fifth spot went to Eastern Illinois University with 86 points before USI in sixth with 78 points. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (65), the University of Tennessee at Martin (64), Southeast Missouri State University (57), and Western Illinois University (18) rounded out the preseason poll.
As part of the OVC’s preseason announcement, redshirt sophomore forward Eva Boer represented USI on the 2025 OVC Women’s Soccer Preseason Players to Watch List. Last season, Boer tied a team-best three goals and added an assist for seven points on the 2024 campaign. Boer made 11 starts in 14 appearances and totaled over 600 minutes last year, finishing strong after a midseason injury. One of Boer’s three goals in 2024 came in the OVC quarterfinal match against Morehead State.
Seniors Charli Grafton and Emerson Grafton were also highlighted in the OVC’s preseason announcement as USI’s two returning all-conference players. Both were named Second-Team All-OVC in 2024. Charli Grafton anchored USI’s defense in all 19 matches last season, playing all but 30 minutes during the season, and helped USI collect four shutouts. She also scored a goal and was a two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Week selection in 2024. Emerson Grafton paced Southern Indiana with 12 points on a team-high six assists, which ranked second in the OVC, and tied with Boer for a team-best three goals. She made 14 starts and appeared in all 19 matches last season. In addition to being named to the 2024 OVC All-Newcomer Team, she earned OVC Offensive Player of the Week honors in the final week of the 2024 regular season.
USI hosts Illinois State University in a preseason exhibition match on Saturday at 3 p.m. from Strassweg Field before kicking off the 2025 regular season on the road with a first-ever contest against a power-conference opponent when the Screaming Eagles visit the University of Nebraska on August 14 at 7 p.m. The Screaming Eagles will open their regular-season home slate on August 17 at 1 p.m. against Cleveland State University. The first OVC contest of 2025 is September 20, when Southern Indiana travels to UT Martin.
