• FALLING SHORT: Concordia's Telvin Vah scored twice — once in each half — as the Cobbers dealt the Cardinals a 2-0 conference setback last Saturday.
• ONE-GOAL NAILBITERS: Five of the Cardinals' last seven games have been decided by one goal. SMU has beaten Simpson (1-0), while falling to Carleton (2-1), Saint John's (1-0), UW-Eau Claire (3-2), and Gustavus (1-0).
• HITTING THE ROAD: Wednesday's game at Ripon is the first of back-to-back road games for the Cardinals, who are 1-4-0 away from Ochrymowycz Field this season.
• KING OF THE PK: Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) 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.
• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: With his second-half goal against UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 26, Szymanski pushed his team lead in goals to five, two more than Landon Pendleton (Mobile, Ala.). Diego Rivera (Chicago, Ill.), who assisted on Szymanski's goal against Simpson on Sept. 11, leads the team with two helpers, while Szymanski has the team lead in points with nine. … Syzmanski's four goals this season give him 19 for his four-year collegiate career, ranking the senior sixth all-time
• CAREER FIRSTS: 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. … Pendleton netted a pair of goals vs. the Knights for his first career two-goal game. … 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 21 shots and also leads the team with 12 SOG
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) finished with 19 saves in the Cardinals' two games last week — stopping nine of the 10 shots he faced against Gustavus on Sept. 28, then posting 10 saves against Concordia three days later. Sessler, who owns a 1.74 goals-against-average and an .811 save percentage, has stopped 66 of the 81 shots he's faced this season. … 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 last Saturday. The effort was five more than his previous career-best of seven — which he equaled three times this season.
• 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).
• OWNERS OF THE SECOND HALF: Saint Mary's has outscored its opponents 8-4 after the halftime break. On the flip side, the Cardinals have been outscored 11-4 in the game's first 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 the last six months 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 Red Hawks enter Wednesday's nonconference game against Saint Mary's sitting at 2-9-1 overall and 0-3-0 in the Midwest Conference. The Red Hawks surrendered a pair of goals nine minutes apart early in the second half in dropping a 4-2 decision to Cornell last Saturday.
• ON THE SKIDS: Ripon's 4-2 loss to Cornell last Saturday was its fourth consecutive setback. Ripon has not won since beating Maranatha Baptist 6-1 on Sept. 18. The Red Hawks have been outscored 15-3 during its current four-game slide.
• HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE?: Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's is the third straight home game for the Red Hawks, who are 1-5-1 on their home turf, while going 1-4-0 away from Prairie Field this season.
• SPREADING THE WEALTH: Ripon's 17 goals this season have come from 11 different players — led by Jacob Oppeneer with four and Eli Dietzel with three. Estaban Borja Pena has found the back of the net twice, with Alex Casarez, Charles, Schultz, Chris Boehmke, Matthew Klopp, Tim Geocaris, Nick Bellisle, Braden Kobus, and Josh Prill all scoring once.
• BY THE NUMBERS: Along with his three goals, Dietzel leads the Red Hawks in assists with three, one more than Oppeneer. … Oppeneer has amassed a team-best 11 points, followed by Dietzel with 10. … Oppeneer and Geocaris lead the team with 11 and 10 shot attempts, and the due share the team lead with six shots on goal.
• CONVERTING THE PK: Ripon has scored on one of two penalty kicks chances this season, while the Red Hawks' opponents are 3-for-5 in Pks.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Ripon has used three different goalkeepers this season, led by Kalen Narance, who has compiled a 3.14 goals-against-average and .722 save percentage in 717:03 minutes. Warren Januszkiewicz (2.74 GAA, .769 save %, 196:56) and Kenny Smith (4.84 GAA, .630 save %, 186:01) have also seen time in goal for the Red Hawks. … Narance has stopped 65 shots this season, followed by Januszkiewicz with 20 saves and Smith with 17.
• SECOND-HALF WOES: Ripon has allowed 26 goals in the second half, while scoring just eight times after the halftime break. The Red Hawks have been outscored 15-9 in the game's opening 45 minutes.
• PUTTING UP BIG NUMBERS: Ripon scored a season-high six goals in its 6-1 win over Maranatha Baptist on Sept. 18. On the flip side, the Red Hawks have allowed five or more goals three times — surrendering five goals in loses to Wisconsin Lutheran (5-3) and Lake Forest (5-1), and giving up six in a 6-0 setback against Carroll.
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