• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals come into Saturday's conference showdown at Augsburg on the heels of a 3-2 nonconference loss on the road at Ripon on Wednesday. The loss dropped the Cardinals to 3-8-0 overall.
• ONE-GOAL NAILBITERS: Six of the Cardinals' last eight 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), Gustavus (1-0), and Ripon (3-2).
• ONE TOO FEW: For the second time in the last four games, the Cardinals have scored two goals, only to fall one goal short. Along with their 3-2 loss to Ripon on Wednesday, SMU also dropped a 3-2 decision to UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 25.
• ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Saturday's game at Augsburg is the second of back-to-back road games for the Cardinals, who are 1-5-0 away from Ochrymowycz Field this season.
• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: With his second-half goal against Ripon on Wednesday, Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) pushed his team lead in goals to six, three more than Landon Pendleton (Mobile, Ala.) — who accounted for Saint Mary's other goal in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Ripon. Diego Rivera (Chicago, Ill.) leads the team with two assists, while Szymanski has the team lead in points with 13. … Syzmanski's five goals this season give him 20 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 25 shots and also leads the team with 14 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.) — coming off his second double-digit save performance with 10 stops against Concordia last Saturday — owns a 1.88 goals-against-average and a .790 save percentage. … Sessler owns 64 saves in eight 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 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).
• NIGHT AND DAY: Saint Mary's has scored nine of its 14 goals this season after halftime. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents have netted 12 of their 18 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 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 Auggies come into Saturday's matchup against Saint Mary's sporting a 9-2-0 overall record, including a 4-1-0 showing in the MIAC, leaving Augsburg tied with St. Olaf atop the conference standings.
• HITTING A SPEED BUMP: After opening the season with nine consecutive losses, Augsburg has lost its last two games — falling to Saint John's (3-0) and UW-Eau Claire (2-1) in a four-day span.
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• DEFENSIVE SHIFT: After allowing just a combined two goals during its season-opening nine-game winning streak, Augsburg has surrendered five goals in its last two contests. The Auggies outscored their first nine opponents 22-2, but have been outscored 5-1 during their current two-game slide.
• END OF THE ROAD: After playing three straight road contests, Saturday's game against Saint Mary's is one of three home contests in a four-game span for the Auggies. Augsburg is a perfect 5-0-0 on its home turf, while going 4-2-0 away from Edor Nelson Field.
• LEADERS OF THE PACK: Kobby Owu has scored a team-leading seven goals, while also leading the Auggies in points with 16. Heilo De La Torre is second to Owu in both goals (6) and points (15), while Tomas Piza-Gonzales owns a team-leading four assists and is third in points with 10.
• SUPPORTING CAST: Owu (7) and De La Toree (6) have accounted for 13 of the team's 23 goals, with Kebba Janneh (4), Piza-Gonzalez (3), Brenden Baty (1), Nick Zuchowski (1), and Varney Conneh II (1) have netted the other 10. … Jessie Juarez is second to Piza-Gonzalez with three assists.
• GAME-WINNER: Owu has scored four of Augsburg's nine game-winning goals, followed by Janneh with two, and De La Torre, Piza-Gonzalez, and Zuchowski with one each.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Oscar Herrera has been a marathon man in goal for the Auggies, playing all but 24 minutes of Augsburg's 11 games. Herrera has compiled a 0.72 goals-against-average and an .840 save percentage in 11 starts, posting five shutouts and stopping 42 of the 50 shots he's faced. … Herrera's 0.72 GAA and .840 save percentage both rank No. 2 in the MIAC.
• AS A TEAM: The Auggies have outshot their first 11 opponents 161-123, including 65-52 in shots on goal. … Augsburg owns a 23-8 advantage in goals, outscoring its opponents 8-5 in the first half and 15-3 after the intermission.
• WORKING OT: Augsburg has played three overtime games this season — winning all three. The Auggies topped UW-Superior 2-1 in overtime, and beat both Hamline and Carleton 1-0 in double overtime.
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