• SO CLOSE: Saint Mary's scored two second-half goals — including Eli Szymanski's (La Crosse, Wis.) game-tying PK with 10 minutes remaining in regulation to knot the game at 2-2 — only to have UW-Eau Claire score with less than five minutes remaining to deal SMU a 3-2 setback last Saturday.
• ONE-GOAL NAILBITERS: Last Saturday's 3-2 loss to UW-Eau Claire was the fourth time in the last five games, that the outcome was decided by one goal. SMU has beaten Simpson (1-0), while falling to Carleton (2-1), Saint John's (1-0), and UW-Eau Claire.
• HITTING THE ROAD: Tuesday's conference game at Gustavus is the second straight road game for the Cardinals.
• HOME SWEET HOME: Two of Saint Mary's three wins this season have come on their home turf. The Cardinals are 2-2-0 at Ochrymowycz Field this season, having defeated Martin Luther (5-0) and Edgewood (3-1), while falling to Saint John's and St. Scholastica.
• KING OF THE PK: Szymanski scored his fourth penalty kick goal of the season against UW-Eau Claire last Saturday. 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 last Saturday, 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 17 shots, five more than Cerim Palislamovic (Jacksonville, Fla.). Szymanski and Palislamovic share the team lead with nine shots on goal.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) — who 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 — enters Wednesday's matchup against Gustavus boasting a 1.82 goals-against-average and a .768 save percentage. The sophomore has stopped 41 shots in 542:45.
• CAREER-HIGH: Sessler stopped a career-high 12 shots 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 Wednesday, 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).
• CLOSE CALLS: The Cardinals battled Saint John's to a scoreless deadlock through 90 minutes of regulation last Saturday, 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. |
• ROLLING ALONG: The Gusties picked up their second straight victory last Saturday, scoring the game's only goal in the 61st minute in shutting out Saint John's 1-0.
• GETTING ON TRACK: After opening the season 0-2, Gustavus has rattled off wins in six of their last seven games.
• CLOSE CALLS: Last Saturday's 1-0 victory over Saint John's was its second straight one-goal win and marked the third straight time GAC has played a game decided by one goal. Along with their 1-0 win over SJU, the Gusties beat Bethany Lutheran and lost to Carleton, both games 2-1 decisions.
• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: Cole Schwartz leads of shares the team lead in all three offensive categories — goals (5), assists (3), and points (25). … Ethan Miller, Owen Johnson, and Scott Heinen have also collected three assists this season. … Schwartz has attempted a team-high 25 shots, including a team-best 18 on goal.
• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Egan Bedwell and Wesley Sanders have shared the goalkeeping duties this season, with both netminders appearing in five games. Bedwell boasts a 0.44 goals-against-average and an .846 save percentage, while Sanders owns a 1.85 GAA and .619 save percentage. … Sanders has made a team-best 13 saves, two more than Bedwell.
• ON THE OFFENSIVE: Gustavus has outscored its opponents 21-10 — and have not allowed more than two goals against all season. On the flip side, GAC has scored three of more goals in a game four times, including a season-high six goals in beating St. Scholastica 6-1 on Sept. 15.
• SECOND-HALF DOMINANCE: GAC has outscored its opponents 13-6 after halftime, while holding an 8-4 scoring edge in the game's first 45 minutes. |
