MANKATO, Minn. --- Ranked No. 25 in this week's United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll, third-seeded Minnesota State (14-2-2, 12-1-2 NSIC) enters the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference postseason tournament hosting fifth-seeded University of Mary (9-6-3, 8-5-2 NSIC), Wednesday at noon at The Pitch.


NSIC Tournament: The NSIC Tournament is an eight-team single-elimination tournament held on three days from Nov. 10-14. The top four seeds (first-seed Bemidji State, second-seed Augustana, third-seed Minnesota State and fourth-seed Minot State) each host first-round contests before the highest remaining seed in the field will host the semifinal games on Friday and Championship on Sunday. Among the other NSIC foes appearing in the tournament are fifth-seed Concordia-St. Paul, sixth-seed UMary, seventh-seed St. Cloud State and eighth-seed Northern State.


Facing UMary: The Mavericks own a 12-1-3 all-time record over the Marauders dating back to the 2008 season. In the last meeting back on Oct. 24, the Mavericks defeated the Marauders 3-0 on the road. Freshman forward Maille Mathis scored a career-high three points in the match with a goal and an assist on Tia Martin's game-winning goal before adding an assist. Prior to this season, MSU and UM played to a 1-1 tie in the 2019 NSIC Tournament before MSU prevailed, 6-5, in a shootout to advance in the tournament.

Scouting the Marauders: UMary finished fifth in the NSIC standings with a 9-6-3 conference mark and a 8-5-2 overall record.

Senior forward Hannah Richter leads the Marauders' offensive charge with the team-lead in goals (four), assists (seven), points (15), shots (37) and shots on goal (25). In goal for UMary, junior Madisyn Waltman has seen action in 17 of the Marauders' 18 matches this season. In 1598:01 of action, Waltman sports an .813 save percentage and 0.79 goals-against average.


Regional Ranking: The Minnesota State women's soccer team fell back to No. 5 in the second edition of the NCAA Central Region Rankings, last week. The NSIC, the Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC) make up the 35-team NCAA Central Region. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA Central Region Tournament on Nov. 9 & 11 and Nov. 16 & 18.  Automatic bids are granted to the winners of the MIAA, GAC and NSIC postseason tournaments, with the remaining five spots awarded on an at-large basis. The NCAA women's soccer selection show will be streamed online on Monday, Nov. 15 at NCAA.com at 5:00 p.m. CST.

MSU received the fifth spot in the rankings after putting together a 14-2-1 in-region record. Central Missouri topped the rankings, with Bemidji State, Emporia State and Central Oklahoma following in second, third and fourth, respectively.


Last Time Out: The Mavericks are 14-2-2 overall and finished 12-1-2 in the NSIC for a third-place finish after a scoreless tie on the road at Concordia-St. Paul to conclude the regular season, last Friday.

The Mavericks, who finished third in the NSIC standings, enter the first round of the postseason tournament riding a 13-game unbeaten streak with 10 shutouts during that span.


Feel the Rath: Sophomore Mackenzie Rath picked up her ninth career shutout in the scoreless tie at Concordia-St. Paul where she made five saves over the course of the 110-minute match. Rath has earned NSIC Goalkeeper of the Week twice this season (Oct. 11 and Oct. 25) and has played the most minutes out of any other goalkeeper on the Maverick roster with 1,063. After last weekend's wins over USF and SMSU, Rath now sports a 9-1-2 record which is backed by the NSIC's best save percentage (.927 - 1st in NCAA DII) and goals-against average (.326 - 3rd in NCAA DII).

As a unit, the Mavericks' goalkeeping corps, comprised of Rath and a pair of freshmen in Clare Longueville and Ava Blackney, is among the best in the conference with 12 total shutouts this season, including nine during the Mavericks' current 12-game unbeaten streak. MSU owns the NSIC's best goals-against average (.541) and shutout percentage (.667) as well as the second-best save percentage (.884) in the conference.


Doesn't Get Vetter Than This: Junior forward Jenny Vetter is the Mavericks' leading scorer in goals and points this season with a scoring line of 16-3--35 in 18 matches. Now with 19 career game-winning goals after scoring in overtime against Minot State (Oct. 22), Vetter sits tied for first at MSU all-time in game-winners with Korey Kronforst (2012-15) and leads NCAA DII this season with seven game-deciding goals. Vetter is currently fourth on MSU's all-time scoring list with 42 goals in her Maverick career. She also stands at seventh with 97 career points (42-13--97) in 66 matches at Minnesota State.


Marvelous Mathis: Freshman forward Maille Mathis leads Maverick rookies with 13 points this season which ranks second on the team in scoring overall. In 18 matches, Mathis has made five starts and is tied for the team-lead in assists with five. Mathis is also among the Mavericks' most prolific shooters this season, attempting 30 shots (fourth on the team) with 14 on goal (fourth on the team). Two weeks ago (Oct. 31), Mathis scored a career-high two goals in a match against Southwest Minnesota State, the Mavericks held on to win 2-0.


Bahlling Out: With the Mavericks' 2-0 victory over SMSU, Oct. 31 at The Pitch, head coach Brian Bahl now stands alone as the MSU's all-time winningest soccer coach after passing former head coach Chris Miskec (142 victories from 1996-07).


Our History: The 2021 season marks Minnesota State's 27th year playing women's soccer. The Mavericks are 366-126-39 (.726) in 531 contests since their inception as a varsity sport in 1995. Minnesota State is in its 13th season as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and owns a 155-19-13 (.873) record in 185 games.

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' NCAA postseason fate relies on the outcome of the NSIC Tournament. With a win in their round-one match up with UMary at The Pitch, the Mavericks will wait to find out who they play next and where the site of the remainder of the tournament will be held, Wednesday.

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