MANKATO, Minn.--- #21 Minnesota State enters the final weekend of the regular season with an away and home match. On Friday, the Mavericks will head to Sioux Falls, S.D., to take on Augustana at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Minnesota State will welcome Wayne State to The Pitch for senior day with the match beginning at 1:00 p.m.

Our History: The 2018 season marks the school's 24th season playing women's soccer. The Mavericks are 326-119-36 (.715) in 481 games since their inception as a varsity sport in 1995. Minnesota State is in its 10th season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and owns a 129-15-11 (.868) record in 155 games during conference play. Over the course of history, MSU has claimed 10 regular season conference championships, including five NCC championships and five NSIC championships. The Mavericks have also won six NSIC Tournament championships in the 10 years of being in the conference. Minnesota State made its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. The Mavericks own a 7-8-4 overall record in NCAA postseason play, wining twice on shootout occasions and losing three times.

Looking Back at Last Week: The Mavericks (13-2-1, 11-1-1 NSIC) went 2-0 last week, collecting two shutouts along the way. MSU defeated Northern State 1-0 on Friday and MSU Moorhead 3-0 on Sunday, both games being at The Pitch. 

Shutout Sweep: The Maverick defense was able to shutout the opposition twice last weekend to make that a total of eight for the season. In those two matches, MSU gave up a total of seven shots, including one all match against MSU Moorhead. This kept the ball in the attacking third allowing the offense many chances at scoring goals. 

Junior Dakota Wendell had the lone goal in the Northern State match. This was the 11th of the season, which paces the team and is third in the NSIC. Senior Morgan Cottew (7), junior Taylor Kenealy (1) and freshman Nadia Lowery (2) each scored a goal in the MSU Moorhead match. 

Cottew (8), junior Alesha Duccini (4) and sophomores Claire Barresi (1) and Molly Riley (1) each also collected an assist throughout the weekend.
 
Junior Alexa Rabune was in the net 180 minutes for the Mavericks this week. Rabune picked up her seventh and eighth shutouts of the season with the wins over Northern State and MSU Moorhead. She currently has a 0.67 goals-against average and a .817 save percentage so far this season.

Regional Rankings: The second edition of the NCAA DII regional rankings came out on Wednesday and the Mavericks remained in fourth in the Central Region.

Scouting Augustana: The Vikings (10-3-3, 9-2-2 NSIC) currently sit third in the NSIC and went 1-0-1 at home last weekend, defeating Minnesota Crookston 7-0 on Friday and tying then #3 Bemidji State 0-0 in double overtime on Sunday. That was Bemidji State's first tie of the season after starting 15-0. The Vikings are 5-1-1 at home this season. All-time, MSU is 23-2 against Augustana, winning the last 13 matches.

Freshman Alexis Legg is pacing Augustana's offense coming off the bench in every match. She has scored eight goals with one assist while totalling 17 points. Freshman Claudia Pueschner has started in 15 of the 16 matches for Augustana, making 94 total saves, garnering a 0.54 goals against average and posting nine shutouts on the season.
 
Facing Augustana: The Mavericks went 2-0 against Augustana last season. MSU won 3-0 during the regular season on Oct. 8 with sophomore Molly Sarafolean, current student assistant coach Lexi Pszanka and recent graduate Jenny Hoerter each scoring a goal. The second matchup came in the NSIC Tournament Championship where the Mavericks won 2-0 and claimed the title. Cottew and Duccini both scored a goal on the way to a win.

Scouting Wayne State: The Wildcats (4-10-1, 4-8-1 NSIC) currently sit 11th in the NSIC and went 1-1 at home last week losing to then #3 Bemidji State 3-0 on Friday and defeating Minnesota Crookston 6-0 on Sunday. WSU is 1-5 on the road this year with their only win being against Upper Iowa on Oct. 5. All-time, the Mavericks are undefeated against Wayne State winning all 13 matches since the first one in 1998.

Senior Christina Stasi and sophomore Rylie Wehner lead the team with three goals a piece. Freshman Alyssa Bagley has started 11 of the 15 matches in net while making 38 saves, garnering a 1.29 goals against average and having four shutouts.

Facing Wayne State: The Mavericks defeated the Wildcats 4-0 in the only match last season with senior Maddy Burandt, Cottew, Riley and Pazanka all scoring a goal each.

Looking Ahead: The Mavericks will look forward to the 2018 NSIC Tournament that will start on Wednesday, Oct. 31. MSU has clinched a first round home match with its opponent to be determined starting at 3:00 p.m., at The Pitch.