MANKATO, Minn. – The No. 3 Minnesota State women's soccer team will head to Nebraska on Friday to take on Wayne State at 3 p.m., before wrapping up the weekend at Augustana on Sunday at 1 p.m.

MSU enters this weekend with a 13-1-1 record, while being 10-1-1 in the NSIC, which is best in the conference. Last weekend the Mavericks cruised to two shutout victories to wrap up their regular season home slate. Against MSU Moorhead Anna Stromberg scored twice while Amara Smith scored and added two assists. Maddix Archer also had two assists and Abby Hoiska scored on a late PK in the 5-0 win. Lauren McAlpine had to make just one save which came in the opening 15 minutes of action.

Then against Minnesota Crookston the Maverick offense exploded with a season high seven goals. Elan Litt broke the ice and opened the floodgates as Archer and Smith would quickly follow to make it 3-0. Addie Dobratz scored her first career goal and Hoiska scored on the PK once again to make it 5-0 before halftime. Alicia Hoffman and Dobratz would score in the second half, securing the 7-0 win. McAlpine had a busier game making five saves in another shutout.

The Mavericks have now scored at least four goals in every game since their lone loss of the season against Minnesota Duluth while also not allowing a goal. McAlpine is tied for the most shutouts in all of Division II with 13 while also holding the second best save percentage (.943). Her two shutouts over the weekend led to a second straight NSIC Goalkeeper of the Week award, and third on the season.

Scouting Wayne State:

The Wildcats enter Friday's match with a 5-7-3 record (4-5-3 NSIC) and are coming off a 1-1 weekend. In a 3-0 win over Jamestown, Jordan Lewis would score a first half goal while Morgan Mancuso and Olivia Thompson would score in the first seven minutes of the second half to put the game away. Alexa Hofstetter had to make one save in the win. Thompson would score once again against Northern State but it was the Wildcats only goal in a 2-1 loss.

Thompson is tied with Briella Thompsen for the team lead in goals with four while others like Taylor Woods and Tyler Donaldson have helped the offensive attack by each scoring twice this season. Mancuso leads the teams in shots with 36 and shots on goal with 19. Addison Walker has been a strong defensive presence playing in all 15 games for a total of 1,268 minutes while chipping in an assist.

Hofstetter has played every minute in net this season besides the last 14 minutes of the Jamestown match. She has allowed 0.94 goals per game while holding a .841 save percentage. She has recorded four solo shutouts this season alongside the combined shutout against Jamestown.

All-Time vs. the Wildcats:

The Mavericks are unbeaten against Wayne State, holding a 20-0-1 record. Smith and Megan Grater both scored in the last matchup in a 4-2 win at The Pitch. MSU is 8-0-1 at Wayne State and the last time the two played there it ended in a 0-0 tie. Across all matchups the Mavericks are averaging four goals per game.

Scouting Augustana:

The Vikings are 8-3-4 so far this season, and 6-3-3 in the NSIC. Last weekend they also faced Northern State and Jamestown going 1-1 with the exact same results as Wayne State. Madelyn White scored her fourth goal of the season in the 2-1 loss. White would score again against Jamestown while Avery Heinz scored twice in the 3-0 shutout. Linnea Larson made five saves en route to the shutout.

Heinz and White are the leaders for the Viking attack, Heinz leads the team with six goals while White is second with five of her own. Four other Viking players have scored two goals this season. White and Grace Katter have been the most aggressive shooters leading the team with 46 and 45 shots, with 22 and 21 on net respectively. Ashlyn Kelliher has played the most minutes on the defensive end with 1,129 across 15 games.

Larson has been the primary goalkeeper, starting all 15 games while averaging 0.76 goals allowed with a .788 save percentage. She has seven shutouts on the season which is tied for second most in the NSIC only behind McAlpine.

All-Time vs. the Vikings:

Minnesota holds an impressive 33-3 record all-time against Augustana and they have won the last five matchups. Last season in Mankato the Mavericks won 2-0 and the year before Archer scored twice in a 3-1 win. The last time these teams faced off in Sioux Falls, Archer would score the lone goal of the game in a 1-0 Maverick win. Augustana last won in 2021, in a 1-0 shutout on their home field. The Mavericks average 3.22 goals per game in the series and are 10-2 at Augustana.