By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's soccer team returns to Ochrymowycz Field on Friday, as the Cardinals host Central-Iowa in a 7 p.m. nonconference showdown.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-1-0 Overall) vs. Central-Iowa Dutch (5-0-0 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * Live Video
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's­­—September 7, 2019 * Madison, Wis.: Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) and Josh Balsiger (Camas, Wash.) scored second-half goals, as the Cardinals picked up their second win of the season, beating Edgewood 2-0 | Recap
• Central—September 10, 2019 * Pella, Iowa: The Dutch kept their perfect season in tact, scoring a pair of goals in each half in rolling to a 4-1 nonconference win over Cornell | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Central — Their Last Meeting:
• September 8, 2018 * Pella, Iowa: Central erupted for three second-half goals in a 13-minute span midway through the game's final 45 minutes in dealing the Cardinals their first loss of the season, 3-0 | Recap
  
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals take to the road on Thursday, heading to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. nonconference matchup against North Central.
• Central: The Dutch are back on the road on Sunday, heading to St. Peter, Minn., for a nonconference showdown against Gustavus. Game time is set for noon.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• With their 4-0 loss to Loras on Sept. 4 and their 2-0 win over Edgewood three days later, all three of the Cardinals' games this season have been decided by shutout — Saint Mary's opened with a 5-0 win over Marian on Aug. 30. … Josh Balsiger (Camas, Wash.), who scored twice in Saint Mary's 5-0 win over Marian on Aug. 30, scored his third goal of the season in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Edgewood. … Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) netted Saint Mary's other goal against Edgewood last Saturday. … Balsiger's two-goal game against Marian on Aug. 30, was the senior's first collegiate two-goal game. … Balsiger — a 2018 honorable-mention All-MIAC selection — scored a single-season career-high seven goals a year ago. … Zack Bracken (Osseo, Minn.) recorded his first collegiate multiple-point game, picking up assists on three of the Cardinals' five goals against Marian on Aug. 30. … Balsiger now leads the team with three goals, while Sobczak, Jacob Clements (Holmen, Wis.), Johnluke Nahorski (Minnetonka, Minn.), and Cole Van Houten (Pine Island, Minn.) have accounted for the other four. … Nahorski has now scored in the Cardinals' season opener in each of the last two seasons. … Clements scored the season's first goal at 7:00 of the first half against Marian on Aug. 30 — it was his first collegiate goal. … Jimmy Perreault (Batavia, Ill.) and Sam Morris (Hockinson, Wash.) each made one save — Perreault's in the first half and Morris' in the second — in recording the combined shutout in the Cardinals' 2-0 win over Edgewood last Saturday. … The Cardinals did not allow Marian a single shot attempt in their season-opening 5-0 win over Marian. … After scoring three of their five goals against Marian on Aug. 30 in the first half, the Cardinals netted both of their goals against Edgewood last Saturday in the second half. … All four of the goals allowed by the Cardinals have come after halftime. … Saint Mary's five goals against Marian on Aug. 30 were the most since scoring six goals in a season-opening 6-0 win over Crown on Sept. 1, 2017. … With their 5-0 win over Marian on Aug. 30, the Cardinals have now won their season opener in each of their last five seasons. … The Cardinals' 5-0 win over Marian on Aug. 30 was their fourth straight win over the Sabres — all via shutout.
 
Scouting The Central-Iowa Dutch:
2019 Roster | 2019 Schedule | 2019 Statistics
• Friday's game against Saint Mary's is just the second road game of the season for the Dutch, who have played four of their first five contests on their home field. … Central's game against Saint Mary's is the first of three nonconference games against teams from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the Dutch, who also have Gustavus and Carleton on their slate. … The Dutch head into Friday's game against Saint Mary's riding a season-opening five-game winning streak. After opening the season with back-to-back 3-0 wins over Iowa Wesleyan and Ozarks (Ark.), the Dutch posted one-goal wins over Northwestern (2-1) and Westminster (3-2), before drubbing Cornell 4-1. … Central has scored three of more goals in four of its first five games — including a season-high four-goal outburst in dropping Cornell last Tuesday. … Matthew West scored two of Central's four goals in its win over Cornell last Tuesday, with Jake Dzarnowski and Nick Ashton accounting for the other two. … With his two goals against Cornell, Matthew has now scored a team-high four goals through five games, while also leading the Dutch with eight points. … Dzarnowski is second to Matthew with a pair of goals, while nine other Central players have all scored once. … Charlie Pritchard picked up a pair of assists against Cornell last Tuesday and shares the team lead (3) with Taylor Petkovich. … Central's five game-wining goals this season have come from five different players — Dzarnowski, Pritchard, Brent Mueller, Nathan Casas, and Landon Daniels. … Andrew Mathys has started all five games in goal for the Dutch, compiling a 0.64 goals-against-average and an .800 save percentage. … Mathys has stopped 12 of the 15 shots he's faced this season. … The Dutch have scored seven goals in the first half through five games, while finding the back of the net eight times after the break. On the flip side, Central's opponents have scored twice in each half.