• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals come into Tuesday's conference showdown at Macalester on the heels of a 1-1, double-overtime tie against Hamline last Saturday. The tie — which snapped SMU's 10-game losing streak — moved the Cardinals to 3-11-1 overall, and leaves SMU 0-8-1 in conference play.
• END OF THE ROAD: Tuesday's game at Macalester is not only the final road game of the season for the Cardinals, but also their final MIAC contest of the season. Saint Mary's closes out the season with a 12:30 p.m. nonconference home game against UW-Eau Claire on Saturday.
• ONE-GOAL NAILBITERS: Ten of the Cardinals' last 12 games have been decided by one goal or less. Along with Saturday's 1-1 tie against Hamline — the Cardinals' first tie of the season — the Cardinals have beaten Simpson (1-0), while falling to Carleton (2-1), Saint John's (1-0), UW-Eau Claire (3-2), Gustavus (1-0), Ripon (3-2), Augsburg (2-1), St. Olaf (2-1), and Bethel (1-0).
• PUTTING IN THE EXTRA WORK: Last Saturday's 1-1 tie against Hamline was Saint Mary's second straight double-overtime game. SMU fell to Bethel 1-1 in 2 OTs on Oct. 13. Saint Mary's has now played three overtime games this season, having also dropped a 1-0 overtime decision to Saint John's on Sept. 18.
• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the Cardinals' 2-1 loss to St. Olaf Oct. 13. Landon Pendleton (Mobile, Ala.) is second on the team in goals with four, while Diego Rivera (Chicago, Ill.) and R.J. Vazquez share the team lead with two assists each. Szymanski also boasts a team-leading 15 points. … Syzmanski's seven goals this season give him 21 for his four-year collegiate career, ranking the senior tied for fourth all-time
• CAREER FIRSTS: Aidan Adamek's (Helena, Mont.) game-tying goal in the 68th minute against Hamline last Saturday was his first collegiate goal. Adamek is the fifth Cardinal to net career goal No. 1 this season. Pendleton, Roberto Bontempi (Santos, Brazil), and Alex Keeler (Antioch, Ill.) all scored their first collegiate goals in the Cardinals' 5-0 win over Martin Luther on Sept. 6, while Jack Hurley (Homewood, Ill.) scored his first collegiate goal in SMU's 3-1 win over Edgewood on Sept. 4.
• TAKING THE SHOT: Szymanski has attempted a team-high 38 shots and also leads the team with 19 SOG.
• KING OF THE PK: Szymanski scored his fourth penalty kick goal of the season against UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 26. Szymanski scored two of Saint Mary's three goals in its Sept. 4 win over Edgewood — both coming on penalty kicks — while also adding a PK goal against Carleton on Sept. 15. Szymanski has now scored Saint Mary's last eight PK goals.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) enters Tuesday's game at Macalester with a 1.71 goals-against-average and a .787 save percentage. … Sessler owns 85 saves in 13 starts — tops in the MIAC. … Sessler stopped all four shots he faced against Simpson on Sept. 11 en route to the first shutout of the season and second of his career
• CAREER-HIGH: Sessler posted a career-high 12 saves against UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 26. The sophomore also finished with double digits in saves against Concordia on Oct. 2, stopping 10 of the 12 Cobber shots he faced.
• CAREER FIRST, PART II: Jacob Wing (Verona, Wis.) earned his first career win — in his first collegiate start — in the Cardinals' 3-1 win over Edgewood on Sept. 4. Wing made two saves, with the lone goal coming on a penalty kick. … Wing and Connor Petrich (Arden Hills, Minn.) combined on a two-save shutout against Martin Luther on Sept. 6. Wing stopped both shots he faced in 71:38, while Petrich did not face a shot in 18:22 of relief.
• THE END: The Cardinals had their three-game winning streak come to a screeching halt on Sept. 15, as Carleton scored two goals in less than two minutes early in the first half in handing Saint Mary's a 2-1 setback in the teams' conference opener. After opening the season with a 3-0 loss to the University of Dubuque, the Cardinals had answered with wins over Edgewood (3-1), Martin Luther (5-0), and Simpson (1-0).
• STREAKING ALONG: The Cardinals have now put together a three-game winning streak for the second time in three seasons. The last time SMU won four consecutive games was in 2000, when the Cardinals beat Coe (2-1), Central-Iowa (2-0), Loras (2-0), and St. Thomas (1-0).
• NIGHT AND DAY: Saint Mary's has scored 11 of its 17 goals this season after halftime. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents have netted 16 of their 24 goals in the game's opening 45 minutes.
• CLOSE CALLS: The Cardinals battled Saint John's to a scoreless deadlock through 90 minutes of regulation on Sept. 18, but the Johnnies would score the game's only goal less than three minutes into the first overtime in dealing SMU a 1-0 setback. It was the third time in a six-month span that SMU and SJU have played a game decided by one goal or less. The two teams battled to a 0-0 draw on April 21, 2021, with the Cardinals winning the rematch 2-1 four days later.
• OFFENSIVE RESURGENCE: The Cardinals scored as many goals against Martin Luther on Sept. 6 (5) as they had in all five of their games combined a year ago.
• PERFECTION: With their 5-0 win over Martin Luther on Sept. 6, the Cardinals improved to 6-0-0 all-time against the Knights. Saint Mary's has outscored MLC 21-0 in its six meetings. |
• FOR THE RECORD: The Scots enter Tuesday's conference matchup against Saint Mary's sitting at 8-7-0 overall, including a 5-3-0 mark in the MIAC. With two league games remaining, Macalester — sitting fifth in the conference standings — has already locked up an MIAC Tournament berth and is just three points back of Augsburg and Gustavus for third place.
• GETTING HOT: With last Saturday's win over Saint John's, the Scots have now won four of their last six games.
• NIGHT AND DAY: Last Saturday's 1-0 win over Saint John's marked the Scots' fifth straight game decided by shutout. Macalester has also beaten Hamline (2-0) and St. Scholastica, while falling to Carleton (1-0) and UW-Whitewater (3-0) during that five-game stretch.
• LEADING THE CHARGE: Macalester has netted 30 goals in 15 games this season, led by Hans Haenicke and Silas Southworth, who have scored seven and six times, respectively. Ben Wagner is third on the team with four goals, followed by Thomas Dono, Will Orser, and Joey Stern with three each.
• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Haenicke leads the Scots with four assists, one more than Rohit Shah and two in front of Dono, Orser, Omar Snwar, and Danny Peak.
• POINT TAKEN: Haenicke and Southworth sit atop the team lead in points with 18 and 13, respectively.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Cade Fink has started 13 of the team's 15 games in goal, compiling a 1.22 goals-against-average and a .768 save percentage. Fink has stopped 53 of the 67 shots he's faced and owns three shutouts. … Sam Price has started the other two games in goal for the Scots, posting a 1.47 GAA and .700 save percentage.
• ON A HIGH NOTE: Macalester scored a season-high six goals in a 6-2 win over Colorado College on Sept. 12. The Scots finished with 18 points (6 goals, 6 assists) against the Tigers. On the flip side, Macalester has surrendered a season-high three goals on three separate occasions.
• HOME NO MORE: Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's is the final home game of the regular season for the Scots, who have recorded seven of their nine wins this season on their home turf. Macalester is 7-3-0 at home, while going 1-4-0 away from Macalester Stadium.
• WORKING OT: Macalester has played two overtime games this season, beating Viterbo 2-1 in double-overtime, while falling to St. Olaf 3-2 in OT.
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