By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team closes out its 2018 season on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to Concordia for a 3:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against the Cobbers.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-7-0 MIAC, 5-11-1 Overall) at Concordia Cobbers (1-7-1 MIAC, 7-9-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—October 23, 2018 * Winona, Minn.: Carleton broke open a one-goal game with three, second-half goals in dealing the Cardinals a 4-1 conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field | Recap
• Concordia—October 23, 2018 * Arden Hills, Minn.: The Cobbers broke a scoreless deadlock with a goal in the 32^nd minute, but Bethel answered three minutes later as the two teams battled to a 1-1, double-time tie in a conference matchup at Ona Orth Athletic Complex | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Concordia — Their Last Meeting:
• October 28, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Saint Mary's scored less than 20 minutes into the opening half, but slow-and-steady Concordia scored twice in an eight-minute span late in the second half, lifting the Cobbers to a 2-1 victory over the Cardinals in the teams' season finale at Ochrymowycz Field | Recap
  
Up Next:
• Today's game between the Cardinals and the Cobbers is the season finale for both teams.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• Saturday's game at Concordia is the final collegiate game for Cardinal seniors Chris Beiersdorf (Arlington Heights, Ill.), Daniel Nolte (Owatonna, Minn.), and Alberto Centeno (Elk Grove Village, Ill.). … Tuesday's game against Carleton was the last home game of the season for the Cardinals, who finished 2-6-0 on their home turf this season. … Wednesday's 4-1 loss against Carleton included a pair of own goals — one for each team. … The Cardinals' 1-0 loss to Simpson on Oct. 17 marked seventh time in the last 11 games that the game was decided by one goal — including four that went into overtime. … Josh Balsiger (Camas, Wis.) leads the team in goals with six. … Balsiger's six goals — a single-season career-high — are three more than Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Charles Reit (Arcadia, Wis.), and four in front of Kyle Lichttenegger (De Pere, Wis.) and Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.). … The Cardinals have had 10 different players score goals this season. Along with Balsiger (6), Sobczak (3), Reit (3), Lichttenegger (2), and Szymanski (2), the Cardinals' other six goals have come from Cole Van Houten (Pine Island, Minn.), R.J. Vazquez (Antioch, Ill.), Johnluke Nahorski (Minnetonka, Minn.), Chris Beiersdorf (Arlington Heights, Ill.), and Klaus Friedli (Marshfield, Wis.). … Saint Mary's boasts five players who have recorded their first collegiate goals this season. Van Houten and Vazquez scored their first collegiate goals in the Cardinals' 4-3 loss to UW-Superior on Sept. 30; Szymanski and Nahorski netted their first collegiate goals in Saint Mary's season-opening 3-1 win over North Central on Aug. 31, while Friedli tallied his first goal in a Cardinal uniform in Saint Mary's 4-1 victory over Crown on Sept. 4. … Szymanski picked up his first collegiate two-assist game against Crown on Sept. 4 … Along with his team-leading six goals, Balsiger also boasts a team-best 13 points, five more than Reit. … Szymanski and Nahorski share the team lead in assists with three. … Centeno finished with eight saves against Carleton on Wednesday — it was the third time this season the senior goalkeeper has made eight or more saves in a season. … Centeno stopped a career-high 18 shots — eight in the first half, eight in the second half, and two in the first overtime — in the Cardinals' 1-0 loss to Loras on Sept. 19. … Centeno's 18-save effort was the most in a single game since Jon Szafranski stopped 18 against Viterbo on Sept. 23, 2009. … Centeno needed to make just one save in the Cardinals' 1-0 win over Hamline on Oct. 13 en route to his first collegiate shutout. … Centeno owns a 2.33 goals-against-average and a .716 save percentage in 13 starts this season. … Centeno's 73 saves this season rank third among MIAC goalkeepers. … Jimmy Perreault (Batavia, Ill.) stopped both Simpson shots he faced in the first half of the Cardinals' 1-0 loss to the Storm on Oct. 17, while Michael Maniak (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) made seven saves over the game's final 45 minutes. … Maniak boasts a 1.47 GAA and a .783 save percentage, while Perreault boasts a 1.80 GAA and .667 save percentage. … As a team, the Cardinals have scored three or more goals in four of their five wins this season — netting three goals in wins over Martin Luther (3-1), North Central (3-0), and Bethel (3-2), while tallying a season-high four goals in beating Crown 4-1. … Saint Mary's three goals in its 4-3 loss to UW-Superior on Sept. 30 were the most in a loss since the Cardinals netted three in a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Thomas on Sept. 12, 2012. … Saint Mary's has scored 10 goals in the first half and 13 goals after the break. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents have scored 15 first-half goals and 22 goals after halftime. … With their 3-1 win over North Central on Aug. 31, the Cardinals have now won their season-opener in each of their last four seasons. … The Cardinals have now started the season 4-0-0 and 3-1-0 in their last two seasons.


Scouting The Concordia Cobbers:
2018 Roster | 2018 Statistics | 2018 Schedule
• Concordia enters its season finale on Saturday, winless in its last two — falling to Augsburg 4-1 and tying Bethel 1-1. … CC's 4-1 loss to Augsburg on Oct. 20 snapped the Cobbers' season-high three-game winning streak. … Aronah Mukhtar and Nate Weaver head into Saturday's showdown with Saint Mary's sharing the team lead in goals with seven apiece. … Justin Froslie is the team's assist leader with seven, and Mukhtar owns a team-best 17 points. … Mukhtar is one of three Cobbers who have amassed 10 or more points this season — Weaver (14() and Sam Gess (12) are the others. … Mukhtar, Weaver, and Austin Peterson have each scored two game-winning goals this season, with T.J. Anderson netting the Cobbers' other game-winning goal. … CC is a perfect 2-for-2 in penalty kicks this season. … Jackson Carr has appeared in 15 of the team's 17 games in goal — including 12 starts. Carr owns a 1.75 goals-against-average and a .724 save percentage. … Keith Sullivan has made five starts in goal, owning a 0.82 GAA and .813 save percentage. … Carr has made 63 saves and has collected two shutouts, while Sullivan has stopped 13 shots and has one shutout. … Concordia has scored a season-high four goals in a game three times — beating UM-Morris (4-1), Viterbo (4-2), and Northwestern (4-0). On the flip side, the Cobbers have surrendered a season-high four goals twice — falling to both Carleton and Augsburg by 4-1 counts. … Concordia has been held to one goal or less in all nine of its games this season — including five losses by shutout. …