MANKATO, Minn. --- The Minnesota State soccer team is back home this weekend for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. The Mavericks face St. Cloud State, Friday at 3:00 p.m., and Minnesota Duluth, Sunday at 1:00 p.m.


Facing St. Cloud State: The Mavericks are 25-7-2 in the all-time series vs. St. Cloud State. Over the course of 34 matches between the two schools, the Mavericks have outscored the Huskies 86-34. In the last meeting during the 2019 season, the Mavericks were defeated by the Huskies 2-1 in overtime. Brynn Desens scored the Mavericks' only goal in the 24th minute before SCSU scored in the 55th and 103rd minute.

Scouting the Huskies: SCSU is 3-4-2 this season with a 3-2-2 mark in NSIC contests good for seventh in the conference standings.

Senior forward Nicole Friis leads the way for the Huskies with a seven points, including three goals and an assist. In goal, freshman Evie Kohn has been the only keeper to see action for SCSU this season. She owns a .718 save percentage and 1.16 goals against average.


Facing Minnesota Duluth: The Mavericks and Bulldogs have also shared 34 meetings in their all-time series. MSU has the upperhand on UMD with a 22-8-4 record and 12 consecutive victories. In the last meeting, Jenny Vetter scored a game-winning goal during overtime in the 105th minute to give MSU a 2-1 win over UMD.

Scouting the Bulldogs: The Bulldogs are currently sitting at the 14th spot in the NSIC standings with an overall record of 1-9-1 and a conference mark of 1-6-1.

Junior forward Lauren Singstock leads the Bulldogs in points and assists with 1-3--5 this season. The Bulldogs' primary goalkeeper is senior Sophia Grenz who sports a .741 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average.


Last Time Out: The Mavericks are 8-2-1 (6-1-1) after earning a pair of shutout victories over Upper Iowa, 5-0 last Friday, and Winona State, 4-0 last Sunday.

On Friday, the first half saw the Mavericks jump out to an early 3-0 lead as junior Jenny Vetter posted goals during the 14th, 21st and 26th minutes. Sophomore Allie Williams assisted on two of the goals, while junior Brynn Desens and freshman Maille Mathis assisted on the other. MSU picked up one more goal in the closing minutes of the first half as junior Nadia Lowery found the back of the net in the 42nd minute for her second goal of the season. The lone goal of the second half came in the 47th minute as Vetter scored her fourth goal. With four goals, Vetter became just the third Maverick in program history to score four goals in a match. Amber Dusosky scored five goals against Missouri S&T during the 2000 season, while Nikki Knautt scored four against Bemidji State in 1997.

In Sunday's match, the Mavericks carried a 1-0 advantage into halftime after Williams buried a free kick into lower-left corner of the net from a couple of feet above the box in the 21st minute. The second half saw Vetter score two more goals to up her weekend total to six in the 65th and 68th minute which gave MSU a 3-0 lead. Desens scored the Mavericks' fourth goal on a penalty kick in the 81st minute to make it a 4-0 lead, where the match ultimately stood. 

Sophomore Mackenzie Rath was strong in goal for MSU over the weekend. After making two stops in MSU's 5-0 win over UIU, she was called upon to make a couple huge saves early in Sunday's match, including a penalty-kick stop in the 33rd minute, while earning her fourth career clean sheet with a five-save showing in the 4-0 win vs. Winona State, which upped her record on the season to 4-1-1. Rath was named NSIC Goalkeeper of the Week after working in both games over last weekend.


The NSIC Offensive Player of the Week: Junior forward Jenny Vetter is the Mavericks' leading scorer this season. Vetter leads the Mavericks in goals and points with a scoring line of 11-1--23 in 11 matches. With her 16th career game-winning tally last weekend (Oct. 8 vs. UIU), Vetter remains in sole possession of third in MSU's all-time game-winning goals list. After leading the way in last week's matches with six goals, the Mankato, Minn., native jumped from 10th to sixth on MSU's all-time scoring list with 37 goals and moved into ninth with 85 career points (37-11--85) in 59 matches at Minnesota State. Vetter earned NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for her efforts last week against Upper Iowa and Winona State.

Awards and honors Vetter earned for her efforts during the 2019 campaign included being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team, being named to the USC All-American First Team the D2CCA All-American Second Team, the D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year, the NSIC Offensive Player of the Year and the NSIC Tournament MVP. Vetter was also named to the D2CCA All-Central Region First Team, the USC All-Central Region First Team, the CoSIDA All-District Team, the All-NSIC First Team, the NSIC All-Tournament Team and the NSIC Fall All-Academic Team.


Our History: The 2021 season marks Minnesota State's 27th year playing women's soccer. The Mavericks are 360-126-38 (.723) in 524 contests since their inception as a varsity sport in 1995. Minnesota State concluded its 12th season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2019 and owns a 149-19-12 (.861) record in 180 games during conference play.

Over the course of its history, MSU has claimed 10 regular-season conference championships, including five North Central Conference championships and five NSIC championships. The Mavericks have also won eight NSIC Tournament championships in 12 years of existence in the NSIC. Minnesota State made its 14th appearance in the NCAA Tournament during its last official season back in 2019. MSU owns a 10-11-5 overall record in NCAA postseason play.


Looking Ahead: The Mavericks remain in Mankato to compete in more NSIC action following this weekend's slate, taking on St. Cloud State, Oct. 15, before Minnesota Duluth, Oct. 17.
 

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