By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
SUPERIOR, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team steps out of conference play on Sunday, heading to UW-Superior for a 4 p.m. nonconference showdown against the Yellowjackets
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (4-5-0 Overall) at UW-Superior Yellowjackets (7-2-1 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—September 25, 2018 * Arden Hills, Minn.: Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) scored with 1:22 remaining in overtime, lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2, come-from-behind MIAC win over Bethel at Ona Orth Athletic Complex | Recap
• UW-Superior—September 26, 2018 * Mankato, Minn.: James Bruce scored three times, as the read-hot Yellowjackets rolled to a 5-0 win over Bethany Lutheran | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-Superior—Their Last Meeting:
• October 8, 2017 * Winona, Minn.: Charles Reit (Arcadia, Wis.) scored the game-winning goal with 49 seconds remaining in regulation to lift the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over the visiting Yellowjackets in their final nonconference game of the season | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, heading to Waukesha, Wis., for a 7:30 p.m. nonconference game against Carroll.
• UW-Superior: The Yellowjackets hit the road on Wednesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 4 p.m. nonconference game against Hamline.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• Sunday's game against UW-Superior is the second of three straight road games for the Cardinals. … With Tuesday's win over Bethel, the Cardinals have now played three straight games that have gone into overtime — having dropped a 1-0 double-overtime decision to Loras and a 2-1 OT setback vs. Augsburg prior to Tuesday's victory over the Royals. … The Cardinals 2 OT loss to Loras on Sept. 19 was the Cardinals' first double-overtime game since tying Carleton 0-0 on Oct. 24, 2017. … Saint Mary's 3-2 win over the Royals Tuesday snapped its five-game losing streak. … Josh Balsiger (Camas, Wash.) scored for the second straight game — with both goals game-tying tallies. Balsiger scored with less than three minutes remaining in regulation to pull Saint Mary's even with Augsburg 1-1 on Sept. 22, while his tally in the 75^th minute against Bethel knotted the game at 2-2. … Charles Reit (Arcadia, Wis.) and Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' other two goals vs. Bethel Tuesday — Reit's coming on a second-half penalty kick, and Sobczak's game-winner coming with 1:22 remaining in OT. … Balsiger's goal against Bethel Tuesday was his team-leading fourth of the season, two more than Sobczak, Reit, and Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.). … The Cardinals have had eight different players score goals this season. Along with Balsiger (4), Sobczak (2), Reit (2), and Szymanski (2), the Cardinals' other four goals have come from Johnluke Nahorski (Minnetonka, Minn.), Kyle Lichttenegger (De Pere, Wis.), Chris Beiersdorf (Arlington Heights, Ill.), and Klaus Friedli (Marshfield, Wis.). … Szymanski and Nahorski scored 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 … Balsiger enters Sunday's matchup at UW-Superior leading the team with eight points, one more than Szymanski and two in front of Reit. … Szymanski owns a team-high three assists, with Mateo Means (Dallas, Texas) and Wally Barros (Santa Maria da Boa Vista, Brazil) sitting second to Szymanski with two assists each. … Alberto Centeno (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) finished with five saves in the win over Bethel on Tuesday. … 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's 18 saves against Loras were just two shy of the 20 saves he had made in his previous six games combined. … Centeno owns a 2.00 goals-against-average and a .746 save percentage in eight starts this season. … Michael Maniak (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.) has stopped all five shots he's faced in goal this season—making three saves against Martin Luther on Sept. 1 and stopping both shots he faced in relief of Centeno against Crown on Sept. 4. … As a team, the Cardinals have scored three or more goals in all four of their 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 has scored five goals in the first half and 10 goals after the break. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents have scored seven first-half goals and nine 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 UW-Superior Yellowjackets:
2018 Roster | 2018 Statistics | 2018 Schedule
• Sunday's game against Saint Mary's is the second of back-to-back home games for the Yellowjackets, who are in the midst of playing five of six contests on their home field. … Saint Mary's is the fifth of six Yellowjacket opponents from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Superior has already faced St. Thomas (L, 2-0), Bethel (W, 3-0), Concordia (W, 2-1), and Augsburg (W, 4-1), and still has Saint Mary's and Hamline on their schedule. … With Wednesday's 5-0 win over Bethany Lutheran, the Yellowjackets pushed their winning streak to three and their unbeaten streak to eight (7-0-1) — UW-Superior has not lost since dropping back-to-back 2-0 decisions to St. Thomas and Luther to open the season. … The Yellowjackets have allowed just six goals during their eight-game unbeaten streak. … Prior to Wednesday's 5-0 shutout of Bethany Lutheran, the Yellowjackets had allowed one goal in each of its previous six games. … James Bruce — who scored three times against Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday — leads the team in goals (7) and points (15). … Blake Perry, Eric Watson, and Felix Blick share the team lead with four assists each. … Perry and Elliot Chapman are second to Bruce in points with eight apiece. … UW-Superior's 27 goals have come from 14 different players — Bruce (7), Perry (3), Hanson (3), Chapman (2), Gustavo Barbieri (2), Leonardo Paredes (2), Watson (1), Fernando Bicalho (1), Torsten Winnerblad (1), Archie Gjerdrum (1), Mason Tynsky (1), Blake Doyea, and Hugo Roos (1). … Bruce owns a team-leading three game-winning goals. … Chapman has attempted all three of the Yellowjackets' penalty kicks, converting on two. … UW-Superior has used four different goalkeepers this season, led by Dalton VonKaenel, who owns a 0.87 goals-against-average and .829 save percentage in seven starts. … Ulrik Lager (0.93 GAA, .778 save %) has started two games, while Josh Herd (2.00, .600 save %) has made one start. … VonKaenel has stopped a team-high 29 shots. … UW-Superior has outscored its opponents 11-4 in the first half and 16-6 after the halftime break. … The Yellowjackets have played two overtime games this season — beating Northwestern (2-1) and tying St. Scholastica (1-1). … UW-Superior has scored four of more goals in a game three times — including a season-high eight-goal performance in routing North Central (Minn.) 8-1 on Sept. 18.