CHICAGO, Ill. -- The Augustana Vikings women's soccer team will open up their conference slate on Saturday, September 23 when they head to the Windy City to take on the North Park Vikings.

Augustana sits at 6-1-1 on the season and is coming off of their sixth shutout victory of the season last Sunday, defeating Lawrence by a score of 1-0 at Thorson-Lucken Field. Both teams saw chances in the opening 45 minutes, each tallying multiple shot attempts on target. It took more than 10 minutes for the first strike to be registered as Liesl Whitener's shot was saved around the 11-minute mark. Paige Bingen accounted for the next shot on goal 10 minutes later before Lawrence sent three shots at Augie keeper Janey Castoe in the final 20 minutes of action. Castoe notched three of her five stops in the first half to keep the game scoreless entering intermission.

Lawrence controlled the ball on the Augustana side of the field for a good portion of the second half, finishing plus-three in the shots category through the final 45 minutes. In the 56th minute, Carson Kekelik narrowly missed on an opportunity in front of the visiting goal, but her attempt was saved by goalie. After spending a heavy amount of time on defense, the Vikings broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute as Diedrich secured her first score with the Vikings on a pass from Ximena Osorio-Rodriguez. The visiting Vikings strung together a few late chances, but could not find the back of the net. Their final shot attempt in the 83rd minute was saved by a leaping Castoe to help seal the team's sixth shutout victory of the season. 

After eight games played, Whitener leads the conference in game-winning goals and is second in all of Division III in that category. 

North Park is 1-3-3 on the year and currently riding a six-game winless streak after defeating Benedictine in their season opener. The Vikings broke a two-game losing skid in their most recent outing, a 1-1 tie with Lake Forest back on September 17. North Park has two common opponents with Augustana this year, tying Central and falling to Illinois Tech.

Augie holds a 23-2-2 all-time record against North Park. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw last year in Rock Island. 

Start time is scheduled for 5 p.m. Live coverage can be found here.