Here's quick-hit, by-the-numbers preview of the 2022 Saint Mary's men's soccer team.
 
HEAD COACH:
Corbin Bowers (6th season)
 
A YEAR AGO:
• 0-9-2 MIAC (11th) | 3-13-2 Overall
 
RETURNERS TO WATCH:
• Daniel Sessler (Jr., Goalkeeper | 2021 First-Team All-MIAC … Started 15 of team's 17 games in goal, compiling a 1.60 goals-against-average and .809 save percentage. … Ended 2021 with a team- and league-high 106 saves — including a career-high 12 saves twice. … Posted a four-save shutout against Simpson on Sept. 9, 2021 and now owns two career shutouts).
• Diego Rivera (Sr., Midfield | 17  GP, 1 G, 2 A, 4 Pts; Led Cardinals in assists in 2021. … Scored first career goal against Saint John's on April 25, 2021. … Has now posted back-to-back 1-goal, 2-assist seasons and enters senior year with nine career points.
• Jacob Clements (Sr., Midfield | 17 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 2 Pts. … One of just five players to start all 17 games in 2021. … Finished freshman year in 2019 second on team in goals (5) and assists (4) and was third in points (14). … Has played in all 40 games during his first three years).
• Jack Hurley (Jr., Midfield | 17 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 2 Pts… One of just five players to start all 17 games in 2021 and has played all 22 games during his first two seasons as a Cardinal. … Scored first collegiate goal against Edgewood on Sept. 4, 2021).
 
BY THE NUMBERS:
• 1: Aidan Adamek's (Helena, Mont.) game-tying goal in the 68th minute against Hamline on Oct. 23 was his first collegiate goal. Adamek was the fifth Cardinal to net career goal No. 1 in 2021. 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.
• 7: Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) closed out the season as the Cardinals' goal-scoring leader with seven, three in front of Landon Pendleton (Mobile, Ala.). Syzmanski's seven goals in 2021 gave him 21 for his four-year collegiate career, ranking the senior tied for fourth all-time. Szymanski's 50 career points have him sitting seventh all-time.
• 11: Saint Mary's scored 11 of its 18 goals after halftime. On the flip side, the Cardinals' opponents netted 18 of their 26 goals in the game's opening 45 minutes.
• 12: Twelve of the Cardinals' last 14 games were 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 / 109), Gustavus (1-0), Ripon (3-2), Augsburg (2-1), St. Olaf (2-1), and Bethel (1-0).
• 21-0: 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.
• 106: Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.), who closed out his sophomore season with a 1.60 goals-against-average and an .809 save percentage, ended the year with 106 saves in 15 starts — tops in the MIAC.
 
DID YOU KNOW?
• Eli Szymanski's (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 scored Saint Mary's last eight PK goals.
 
DID YOU KNOW, 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.
 
DID YOU KNOW, PART III?
• Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) equaled his single-game career-high with 12 saves against Macalester on Oct. 26. The sophomore also recorded 12 saves in the team's first meeting with UW-Eau Claire on Sept. 26. Sessler reached double-digits in saves three times in 2021, adding a 10-save effort against Concordia on Oct. 2.