SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2021: 0-9-2 MIAC, 3-12-2 Overall

CROWN STORM

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2021: 1-13-0 UMAC, 3-18-0 Overall

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Live Stats * Streaming Video

SMU-CROWN * LAST MEETING:

Sept. 4, 2018 * St. Bonifacius, MN

W, 4-1 * Series History

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Oct. 30, 2021 * Winona, MN

UW-Eau Claire * L, 1-0

CROWN * LAST ACTION:

Nov. 6, 2021 * Ankeny, IA

North Central * L, 4-1

SAINT MARY’S UP NEXT:

Sept. 3, 2022 * Aurora, IL

Aurora * 1:00

Sept. 4, 2022 * Rockford, IL

Rockford * 4:00

CROWN UP NEXT: 

Sept. 3, 2022 * St. Bonifacius

Providence * 3:00

SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals closed out their 2021 season at 3-12-2 overall, including a 0-9-2 showing in conference play.

• POST-SEASON HONORS: Saint Mary’s had two players earn post-season conference honors a year ago. Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) was named First-Team All-MIAC, while Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) was an honorable-mention All-MIAC selection. … Szymanski was also named CoSIDA Third-Team Academic All-America.

• NEW THIS YEAR: The NCAA implemented a new rule beginning with the 2022 that will eliminate all overtimes in regular-season games. Games that are deadlocked following the scheduled 90 minute will go in the books as ties. Once in post-season, if a game is tied following regulation, there will be two, 10-minute overtime periods — with no golden goal — followed by a shootout if the game is still tied.

• FIT TO BE TIED: The Cardinals closed out their conference slate with back-to-back 1-1 deadlocks — battling both Hamline and Macalester to double-overtime stalemates.

 Saint Mary’s played four games 2021, adding a 1-0 double-OT loss to Bethel and a 1-0 OT setback to Saint John’s.

• CLOSE CALLS: Twelve of the Cardinals’ last 14 games a year ago 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). 

• OFFENSIVE LEADERS: 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.), while Diego Rivera (Chicago, Ill.) and R.J. Vazquez shared the team lead with two assists each. Szymanski also boasted a team-leading 15 points.

• AMONG PEROGRAM’S BEST: 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.

• CAREER FIRSTS: Aidan Adamek’s (Helena, Mont.) game-tying goal in the 68th minute against Hamline on Oct. 23 was his first collegiate goal. Adamek is 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.

• 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.) closed out his sophomore season with a 1.60 goals-against-average and an .809 save percentage. … Sessler ended the year with 106 saves in 15 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 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.

• 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 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. 

• 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.

CROWN STORM SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Storm head into their season-opener against Saint Mary’s coming off a 3-18-0 showing in 2021, including a 1-13-0 mark in UMAC action.

• LAST TIME OUT: North Central erupted for three, second-half goals, as the Rams rolled to a 4-1 win over Crown in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) North Region championship game on Nov. 6, 2021.

• STREAKING: After opening the season in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, the Storm picked up their lone regular-season victory with a 5-3 win over Martin Luther on Oct. 6. After that two-goal victory, Crown lost its next eight, before putting together back-to-back wins over Maranatha Baptist (4-3) and Faith Baptist (4-1) in the NCCAA Soccer Tournament. Crown’s run came to an end with a 4-1 loss to North Central (Minn.) in the NCCAA North Region title game.

• HOME SWEET HOME: Crown picked up its lone regular-season win on its home field in 2021, beating Martin Luther 5-3 on Oct. 6. The Storm finished 1-7 at home, while going 2-11 on the road — including 2-1 in neutral-site contests.

• NAILBITERS: Ten of Crown’s 21 games a year ago were decided by two goals or less — including five one goal games. The Storm finished 1-9 in those 10 contests.

• OFFENSIVE LEADER: Tim Jaeger was a scoring machine for the Storm last season, netting 10 of the team’s 27 goals, while also leading the team in points (25) and sharing the team lead in assists (5). … Eli Salisbury finished the year second to Jaeger with four goals one more than both Yanik Wehrli and Josh Cannon. … Jaeger scored two goals in a game twice last season — both times coming against Martin Luther. Salisbury also posted a two-goal game against Faith Baptist on Nov. 5.

• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Jaeger and Wehrli shared the team lead with five assists each. The Storm duo accounted for 10 of the team’s 12 helpers in 2021. … Jaeger and Wehrli both recorded two-assist games in 2021 — Jaeger vs. Martin Luther on Oct. 6, and Wehrli vs. Martin Luther on Oct. 23.

• POINT PRODUCTION: Jaeger amassed a team-best 25 points in the 20 games he played, while Wehrli also closed out the year in double figures in points with 11, two more than Salisbury. … Jaeger collected a single-game, season-high six points (2 G, 2 A) against Martin Luther on Oct. 6.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Foster Browning was the workhorse between the pipes for the Storm, starting all 21 games. He compiled a 4.02 goals-against-average and a .639 save percentage in 1858:39 minutes. … Tim Stariha appeared in three games, allowing nine goals (16.59 GAA) on 16 shots (.428 save %) in 48:49 minutes. … Browning stopped 147 of the 230 shots he faced, including a season-high 14 saves in Crown’s 4-1 loss to North Central in the NCCAA North Region final on Nov. 6.

• BY THE NUMBERS: Crown scored a season-high five goals in beating Martin Luther 5-3 on Oct. 6. The Storm netted three or more goals four times in their 21-game 2021 season. Along with their season-high five goals vs. North Central, Crown scored four goals in a 4-3, overtime win over Maranatha Baptist on Nov. 4, while adding three-goal efforts in beating Faith Baptist 3-1 on Nov. 5 and losing to Martin Luther 6-3 on Oct. 23. … The Storm surrendered four of more goals in a game 10 times — including allowing a season-high 18 goals in falling to UW-Superior 18-0 on Oc.t 30. … Crown was held to one goal or less in 15 of its 18 losses, including being shut out seven times.