• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals come into Saturday's regular-season finale against UW-Eau Claire sporting a 3-11-2 overall record.
• LAST ACTION: Jacob Clements (Holmen, Wis.) scored in the 13th minute and Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) made 12 saves, as the Cardinals battled Macalester to a 1-1, double-overtime tie.
• END OF THE ROAD: Tuesday's game at Macalester was not only the final road game of the season for the Cardinals, but also their final MIAC contest of the season.
• FIT TO BE TIED: The Cardinals 1-1 deadlock with Macalester on Tuesday was their second straight double-overtime tie — having also battled Hamline to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 23 — and their third straight double-overtime game. SMU fell to Bethel 1-0 in 2 OTs on Oct. 16. … Saint Mary's has now played four games this season, the other being a 1-0 OT loss to Saint John's on Sept. 18.
• CLOSE CALLS: Eleven of the Cardinals' last 13 games have been decided by one goal or less. Along with their back-to-back 1-1 ties against Macalester and Hamline, 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).
• 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 39 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: Sessler enters Saturday's game against UW-Eau Claire with a 1.64 goals-against-average and an .802 save percentage. … Sessler owns 97 saves in 14 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 equaled his single-game career-high with 12 saves against Macalester on Tuesday. The sophomore also recorded 12 saves in the team's first meeting with UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 26. … Sessler has now reached double-digits in saves three times this year, adding a 10-save effort against Concordia on Oct. 2.
• 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). … 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 18 goals this season after halftime. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents have netted 17 of their 25 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 Blugolds enter Saturday's nonconference contest against Saint Mary's sitting at 13-4-0 overall and have won three of their last four.
• LAST TIME OUT: UW-Eau Claire erupted for five goals — including three in the second half — as the Blugolds rallied from 3-2 deficit to beat Bethany Lutheran 5-3 Tuesday.
• PLENTY OF FIRSTS: The 2021 season is the inaugural season for UW-Eau Claire men's soccer. The Blugolds played their first game in program history on Sept. 1 — earning the program's first win with a 4-3, come-from-behind win over Hamline. UWEC's first goal was actually an own goal, while Nathan Donovan netted the Blugolds' first goal in the 46th minute against Hamline on Sept. 1. Spencer Banks and Mark Belknap combined to make one save in UW-Eau Claire's 4-0 win over Ripon on Sept. 22 en route to the program's first shutout.
• HOME SWEET HOME: UW-Eau Claire's Sept. 14 game against Northland was the program's first-ever home game. UW-EC beat the Lumberjacks 6-1 and are currently a near-perfect 6-1-0 on their home turf, while going 7-3-0 away from home.
• BIG OFFENSE = WINS: The Blugolds have scored 52 goals in their 13 wins, including a season- and program-record 11 in blanking Finlandia on Oct. 20.
• OFFENSIVE LEADER: Donovan enters Saturday's showdown with Saint Mary's having scored 22 of the team's 57 goals — including three goals in Tuesday's 5-3 win over Bethany Lutheran. Donovan — whose 22 goals are tied for the NCAA Division III lead — has recorded seven multiple-goal games, including three against Bethany Lutheran and four in UW-EC's 11-0 win over Finlandia. Donovan has scored at least once in 12 of UW-Eau Claire's 17 games.
• OFFENSIVE LEADERS, PART II: Will Heinen is sitting second to Donovan with six goals, followed by Carter Thiesfeld with five, and A.J. Johnson and Evan Wilson with four each. … Wilson is the team-leader in assists with nine, followed closely by Hayden Boich (8) and Heinen (7).
• POINT PRODUCTION: Donovan has amassed a team-high 50 points — No. 2 in all of NCAA Division III — and is one of five Blugolds with at least 10 points, being joined by Heinen (10), Wilson (17), Thiesfeld (16), and Johnson (10).
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: The Blugolds have used three different goalkeepers through this season. Spencer Banks has compiled a 1.64 goals-against-average and a .691 save percentage in 15 appearances (1149:09). Mark Belknap (1.61 GAA, .333 save %, 223:53) and Jakob Leonard (1.92 GAA, .556 save %, 187:48) have also seen time between the pipes this season. … Banks has made a team-high 47 saves.
• MIAC SUCCESS: UW-Eau Claire's second meeting against Saint Mary's on Saturday marks the sixth time this season the Blugolds have squared off against a team from the MIAC. UW-EC is currently a perfect 5-0-0 against the MIAC — beating Hamline (4-3), Concordia (2-1), Saint Mary's (3-2), Augsburg (2-1), and St. Scholastica (5-2).
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