SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS

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2023-24: 7-4-0 Overall

U. OF DUBUQUE SPARTANS

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2023-24: 2-5-0 Overall

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SMU-DUBUQUE * LAST MEETING:

First meeting in program history

SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:

Dec. 1-2, 2023

#1 Gustavus * L, 3-1; L, 3-0

DUBUQUE * LAST ACTION:

Dec. 1-2, 2023

Aurora * L, 9-1; L, 5-1

SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:

Jan. 9, 2024 * Winona, MN

Lawrence * 4 p.m.

DUBUQUE * UP NEXT: 

Dec. 8-9, 2023 * St. Joseph, MN

Saint Benedict * 7 p.m./5 p.m.

SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR RECORD: The Cardinals head into their first-ever meeting against the University of Dubuque sitting at 7-4-0 overall, including a 3-3-0 showing through the first six games of the conference season.

• LAST ACTION: Saint Mary’s dropped both ends of its two-game MIAC series against top-ranked Gustavus last weekend, falling to the defending national champions 3-1 last Friday at the SMU Ice Arena, before dropping a 3-0 decision at GAC’s Don Roberts Ice Rink the following afternoon.

• STREAKING: The Cardinals had their three-game winning streak snapped with last Friday’s 3-1 loss to #1 Gustavus, while the added 3-0 loss on Saturday marks the first time this season SMU has dropped back-to-back games. … SMU’s 7-2-0 start to the season was its best nine-game start since going 7-1-1 in 1999-2000.

• FACING NATION’S BEST: The Cardinals have faced three nationally ranked teams this season, beating seventh-ranked UW-Eau Claire 2-1 on Nov. 3, falling to #4 UW-River Falls on Nov. 4, and dropping a pair of games to No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Gustavus last weekend.

• HOME SWEET HOME: The Cardinals have played six of their 11 games this season on their home ice, going a 4-2-0. SMU has beaten Lake Forest (7-0, 8-0), UW-Eau Claire (2-1), and Augsburg (3-2), while falling to Hamline 2-1 in OT and Gustavus 3-1. … With their 5-2 win against UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 21,

• CLOSE CALLS: Seven of the Cardinals’ last nine games have been decided by two goals or less — including one-goal decisions in three of those outings — a 2-1 OT loss to Hamline, and 3-2 and 2-1 wins over Augsburg.

• PUTTING UP BIG. NUMBERS: SMU’s eight goals in its 8-0 win over Lake Forest on Oct. 28 were the most since blanking Lawrence 8-0 on Dec. 10, 2022. … The Cardinals’ 15 combined goals in sweeping Lake Forest last weekend were the most since SMU swept Bethel 11-0 and 8-3 on Jan. 4-5, 2002. … SMU has outscored its first four opponents 18-4 — including 17-1 in its three wins.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) heads into Tuesday’s game against UD boasting a team-high 10 goals. The freshman — who sits No. 2 in NCAA Division III in goals scored and goals-per-game (1.1) — has netted a goal in seven of the team’s 11 games. … Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.) and Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) are tied for second with four goals each, followed by Mikayla Vasilevich (Chicago, Ill.) with three. … Heitzman’s 10 goals this season are the most since Anya Hafiz scored 13 goals during the 2019-20 season.

• FIRST AS A CARDINAL: Saint Mary’s has already had six players — Heitzman, Vasilevich, Paduano, Maggie Albers (Maple Grove, Minn.), Celia Midtbo (Minneapolis, Minn.),, and Ella Hennes (Ramsey, Minn.) — net their first goals as Cardinals this season.

• SPREADING THE WEALTH: The Cardinals opened the season with 10 different players scoring their first 10 goals. Albers, Hennes Urlaub, Kraus, Taverie Sherner (Maple Grove, Minn.), Ellie Hegdahl (Brookings, S.D.), and Jordy Wyant (Winnipeg, Manitoba) accounted for SMU’s seven goals in its 7-0 win on Oct. 27, while Paduano, Vasilevich, and Heitzman netted SMU’s first three goals in the Cardinals’ 8-0 win vs. the Foresters the following afternoon. … SMU’s five goals in its 4-2 win and 2-1 loss to Hamline on Nov,. 10-11 also came from five different players … The Cardinals had eight different players score goals in their 8-0 win over Lawrence last season.

• TOSSING THE HAT: Heitzman’s hat trick against Lake Forest on Oct. 28 — the first of her collegiate career — marked the second straight season in which SMU boasted a player with three goals in a game. Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick and her first career five-point game in SMU’s 5-0 win over St. Catherine on Jan. 20, 2023.

• LENDING A HAND: Urlaub, who shared the team lead in assists with seven a year ago, has already matched that mark with a team-best seven helpers through 11 games. Kenzie Meland (Zimmerman, Minn.) is second on the team with five assists, followed by Heitzman and Teagan Phillips (Oregon, Wis.) with four, and Paduano, Midtbo, Sherner, Wyant, and Skye Norgren (Fergus Falls, Minn.) with three each. … Saint Mary’s 44 assists have come from 17 different players.

• POINT PRODUCERS: Heitzman and Urlaub have both already reached double figures in points through nine games, with Heitzman leading the charge with 14 points, three more than Urlaub. followed by Paduano with seven, and Midtbo and Meland with five each. … Heitzman has recorded at least one point in nine of SMU’s 11 games this season. She had her season-high nine-game point streak snapped against #1 Gustavus last Friday. 

• BIG NIGHTS: Urlaub delivered a goal and three assists in SMU’s 8-0 win over Lake Forest on Oct. 28. The three assists and four points matched her career high. … Heitzman has recorded two multiple-goal games — scoring three times against Lake Forest on Oct. 28 and adding a pair of goals against Augsburg on Nov. 17 — while Vasilevich tallied a two-goal game against Lake Forest on Oct. 28, and Paduano tallied the first multiple-goal game of her career with two tallies against UW-Stevens Point on Nov. 21.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES:Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) has started all 11 games in goal for the Cardinals, compiling a 1.55 goals-against-average and a .941 save percentage. … Rimstad stopped all 24 shots she faced in SMU’s season-opening 7-0, 8-0 victories over Lake Forest on Oct. 27-28 — kicking out 10 shots in Game 1 and 14 more in Game 2. … Rimstad — who came within 13 seconds of a third straight shutout in SMU’s 2-1 win over #7 UW-Eau Claire — now owns four shutouts through her first two seasons as a Cardinal. … Rimstad, who recorded 252 saves last season, has stopped 273 of the 290 shots she’s faced this season — including a career-high 42 saves in last SMU’s 3-1 loss to #4 UW-River Falls on Nov. 4.

• THROWING UP ZEROS: The Cardinals had their season-opening shutout streak snapped at 179:47 minutes, when UW-Eau Claire scored with just 13 seconds remaining in regulation in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win over the seventh-ranked Blugolds last Friday.

• THROWING UP ZEROS II: SMU’s 7-0 and 8-0 wins over Lake Forest on Oct. 27-28 marked the second straight season in which the Cardinals posted back-to-back shutouts, having blanked Lawrence 3-0 and 8-0 on Dec. 9-10, 2022

• LONG TIME COMING: With their 2-1 win over seventh-ranked UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 3, Saint Mary’s improved to 3-0-0, marking the first time SMU had opened the season with back-to-back-to-back victories since Marian (5-0), St. Norbert (2-1), and UW-Eau Claire (4-1) to kick off the 2010-11 campaign.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: SMU has outscored its first 11 opponents 34-19, but the Cardinals have been outshot 295-268.. … The Cardinals have scored 14 of their 34 goals in the second period, adding 10 tallies in the first and 10 in the third. … Saint Mary’s is 3-for-27 on the power play (11.1 %), while killing off 32 of its opponents 35 PP opportunities (91.4 %). … SMU posted season-highs in virtually every offensive category in its season-opening series against Lake Forest,. The Cardinals set season-bests for goals (8), assists (13), and points (21) in their 8-0 win over the Foresters on Oct. 28, while delivering a season-high 36 shots on goal against the Foresters the previous evening.

U. OF DUBUQUE SCOUTING REPORT:

• FOR THE RECORD: The Spartans head into their first-ever meeting with Saint Mary’s sporting a 2-5-0 record, including a 2-4-0 showing in the first six games of the NCHA season.

• LAST TIME OUT: UD’s offense struggled to get on track in the Spartans’ two-game conference series against Aurora last weekend, falling 9-1 in the opener last Friday, before dropping a 5-1 decision the following day.

• PROGRAM FIRSTS: The Spartans picked up their first win in program history on Nov. 3, beating Trine 5-4, before completing their first-ever two-game sweep with a 2-0 the following day. … Lauren Jeffery tallied the program’s first goal at 3:34 of the second period against Concordia on Oct. 28, while Savannah Wuitschick stopped all 43 shots she faced for the Spartans’ first-ever shutout in beating Trine 2-0 on Nov. 4.

• HOME SWEET HOME: After seven straight road games, Tuesday’s nonconference game against Saint Mary’s is the first-ever home game for the Spartans. UD follows up their showdown with the Cardinals with three more road contests, before closing out 2023 with a home matchup against Trine on Dec. 30.

• LIMPING IN: The Spartans will take the ice against Saint Mary’s in the midst of a four-game losing streak. UD has not won since blanking Trine 2-0 on Nov. 4. … UD has been outscored 23-5 during its recent four-game swoon and have netted just one goal in each of its last three contests.

• LIGHTING THE LAMP: UD’s 13 goals this season have come from six different players. Cassidy Becia leads the way for the Spartans with four goals, one more than Madilynn Schille. Lauren Jeffery and Libby Plath have each found the back of the net twice, and Samantha Eldridge and Gracie Hall own UD’s other two goals. … Schille posted the team’s only multiple-goal game, scoring twice against Trine on Nov. 3.

• LENDING A HELPING HAND: Jeffery and Chloe Byma share the team lead in assists with four helpers each, with Becia and Olivia Hodges both one helper behind. The foursome have accounted for 14 of the team’s 16 assists, with Sarah Parker and Arwen Sims owning UD’s other two assists. … Hodges collected all three of her assists this season against Trine on Nov. 3.

• POINT PRODUCERS: With four goals and three assists, Becia sits atop the team’s points race with seven, one more than Jeffery. Byma is third on the team with four points, followed by Hodges and Schille with three each.

• BETWEEN THE PIPES: Savannah Wuitschick has started all seven games in goal for the Spartans, compiling a 4.62 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage. … Wuitschick has stopped 342 of the 374 shots she’s faced in seven games. … Wuitschick picked up the program’s first shutout with a 43-save effort against Trine on Nov. 4. … Wuitschick has stopped 40 or more shots in six of the team’s seven games — including 51 saves against Marian on Nov. 11, 58 against Trine on Nov. 3, and a season- and program-record 70 against Aurora last Friday.

• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: The Spartans have been outscored 33-13 through seven games, including 10-4 in the first, 8-5 in the second, and 15-3 in the third … UD has been held to two goals or less in six of their seven games –the lone exception, a 5-4 win over Trine on Nov. 3. On the flip side, UD has allowed three or more goals in six games, including a season-high nine goals in falling to Aurora 9-1 last Friday. … Four of UD’s 13 goals this season have come on the PP. The Spartans are 4 of 35 (11.4 %) with the man advantage, while their opponents have netted 10 PP goals on 46 opportunities (21.7 %). … Dubuque recorded season-highs in goals (5), assists (7), points (12), and shots on goal (25) against Trine on Nov. 4.