DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica women's soccer team upended Saint Mary's University Friday night and then had the chips fall its way on Saturday to gain the No. 6 seed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, which begin Monday night again at Saint Mary's.
Where:
Ochrymowycz Field – Winona, Minn.
When:
Monday at Saint Mary's – 6 p.m.
MIAC Playoff Page: https://miacathletics.com/championships/wsoc/2021-22/index
Live Video: https://saintmaryssports.com/showcase?Live=119
Live Stats: https://saintmaryssports.com/sidearmstats/wsoc/summary
St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 4-10-4, 4-5-2 MIAC
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
What You Need to Know about the Saints:
-The Saints make their MIAC playoff debut in their inaugural season in the league.
-CSS comes over from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) where they made the UMAC Tournament every year since 1998.
-The Saints won 15 UMAC Tournament titles in their time in the conference and advanced to 10 NCAA Division III Tournaments.
-CSS finished the regular season with a losing record for the first time since 2016 and its first sub-.500 conference record since 2000.
-The Saints won three of their four games this season away from Duluth.
-St. Scholastica snapped a seven-game winless streak with its 2-1 win at Saint Mary's Friday night.
-Senior
Morgan Friday (Duluth, Minn./Shattuck St. Mary's HS) leads the team with eight goals on the year.
-Friday has 81 career goals and 180 career points, both rank second in program history.
-Fellow senior
McKenzie Nelson (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) has a team-high four assists.
-Four different Saints have recorded game-winning goals this season, including
Kaiya Quam's (Oakdale, Minn./Mounds View HS) goal on Friday at SMU.
-Friday has attempted the team's lone PK of the season and converted, however, the Saints have competed in a penalty-kick shootout this year when they defeated the University of Wisconsin-River Falls to retain The Chalice.
-Senior
Taelynn Gittins (Hugo, Minn./Mahtomedi HS) and sophomore
Brianna Jorgenson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights HS) have split time in goal for the Saints.
-Gittins has played the last four games of the year, including a six-save performance in Friday night's win.
-Since the MIAC Tournament expanded to six teams in 2014, the No. 6 seed is 3-3 in quarterfinal games.
What You Need to Know about Saint Mary's:
Record: 13-4-1, 7-3-1 MIAC
-Like the Saints, the Cardinals will make their MIAC playoff debut in women's soccer Monday night.
-The MIAC Tournament was added first in 2003 and was a four-team playoff up until 2013.
-SMU has not competed in postseason play since 1994 when they took part in the NCAA Tournament.
-The Cardinals won seven MIAC games this season, which are the most since 1995.
-The Cardinals lone loss at home this season came at the hands of the Saints on Friday night. (5-1-1)
-Saint Mary's led the MIAC in goals (38), assists (30), corner kicks (125) and shutouts (11).
-Haddy Falkman ranks second in the MIAC with 10 goals and 24 points.
-Falkman had the goal against the Saints on Friday.
-Jordyn Matthews is tied for the MIAC lead with six assists and ranks fourth in goals (8) and points (22).
-Goalkeeper Alexis Nguyen has allowed a conference-low three goals this season, two of which came against the Saints on Friday.
-Nguyen leads the MIAC with a .936 save percentage and a 0.27 goals-against-average.
-Nguyen had entered Friday's contest leading all of NCAA Division III in both of those categories.
Series Record: SMU leads 4-1-0
(Last Meeting: 2-1 CSS – 10/29/2021)
Series History: Prior to Friday night's contest, the Saints and Cardinals had not faced each other since 1994 … Saint Mary's won each of the first four meetings that occurred in the early years of the St. Scholastica women's soccer program in the early 90s … Friday night's 2-1 victory was the program's first over SMU … This will be the first time the two teams face each other in a postseason matchup.
Looking Ahead: The winner of Monday's quarterfinal will advance to Wednesday's semifinal at the No. 2 seed College of Saint Benedict. That would be a 2 p.m. kickoff.
