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SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – A major upset is on the minds of the University of Providence women's soccer team as the squad enters the 2017 Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament against 1-seed Eastern Oregon University. The Lady Argos are the tournament's 8-seed and EOU has only lost one conference game, but UP is the only CCC team to score more than 1 goal in a game against the Mountaineers in 2017.

When the two teams faced off in La Grande, Oregon back on September 30 the Lady Argos almost pulled off a big road win. Sophomore forward Eme McLaughlin drew first blood with an early goal in the 6th minute that kick-started a crazy first 15 minutes.

After McLaughlin's goal, EOU tied it up in the 11th minute. Junior midfielder Sydney Knieriem soon gave UP the lead back in the 14th minute and Eastern Oregon equalized again in the 15th. After that mad scramble, the Mountaineers controlled the game and eventually scored the  game winner  in the 55th minute.

The Lady Argos were the second team conference or non-conference and the only CCC team to score more than 1 goal against EOU's stellar defense all year. The Mountaineers rank 8th in the NAIA in Shutouts per Game (0.670) with shutouts in 10 of the team's 15 contests.

Offensively, EOU is led by redshirt-junior Natalie Mitchell and junior midfielder Taylor Boyer. Mitchell is the team's goals leader with 6 scores on the year, while Boyer has been both a goal scorer and a strong distributor with 5 goals and 3 assists.

UP has been a more offensive oriented team in 2017 than the Mountaineers, scoring 2 more goals on the year, but allowing quite a few more. The Lady Argos have relied on McLaughlin and Knieriem who have accounted for over 60 percent of the team's goals. McLaughlin is third in the conference in goal and points, with 8 goals and 2 assists while Knieriem isn't too far behind with 6 goals and 3 assists.

The last time the Lady Argos made the postseason was in 2015 and the team found itself in a similar position that year. UP was the 8-seed in that tournament as well and went up against 1-seed and eventual CCC Champions Carroll College.

In that game, the Lady Argos almost pulled off the upset, coming a controversial goal against and an offside call  from  it going the other way.

EOU and UP have played 10 times in the programs' histories. The Lady Argos are 2-8 in those contests with the last win against Eastern Oregon coming during the 2012 season.

The CCC men's and women's soccer tournaments will be hosted by Northwest Christian University in Springfield, Oregon with the first round being played on Friday, November 3 then semifinals on November 4, and the finals on November 6. UP's game against EOU will be at 6 p.m. MST.