Soccer Preview: Stout to host La Crosse in WIAC Quarterinal Tuesday

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: UW-Stout (7-9-1, 5-3-0 WIAC) will host UW-La Crosse (6-10-1, 3-4-1 WIAC), Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. in a WIAC Tournament Quarterfinals meeting. Stout earned the third seed in the tournament, while the Eagles are the sixth seed. The winner of the La Crosse/Stout game will advance to the WIAC Tournament semi-final game, Thursday, Nov. 7. A Blue Devil win will send Stout to second seeded UW-Oshkosh. A La Crosse win will send the Eagles to top seeded UW-Whitewater. The WIAC Championship game is Saturday, Nov. 9 at the highest remaining seeded team.

ON-LINE: All Blue Devil home soccer games will be available by Live Stats. The wireless network on Nelson Field is very iffy. If Live Stats is not available, get updates throughout the game via the Blue Devil Twitter site.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT:  UW-Platteville's Sarah Eck scored two first period goals within six minutes of each other and UW-Stout could not catch up as the Pioneers defeated the Blue Devils 2-1 in the regular season finale Saturday.  The Pioneers (9-8-1, 4-3-1 WIAC) opened the scoring at 33:36 on Eck's 20-yard shot. Eck came back at 38:49 to double the score.  Stout (7-9-1, 5-3-0 WIAC) cut the lead in half when defender Jessica Goodrich (Sr, Munster, Ind) scored at 69:42, with an assist by Addy Maher (So, Racine) but that would be it for the Blue Devils who were looking to finish in a tie for second place, but have to settle for third place all by themselves.  Stout's Paige Meyer (So, Beldenville) made two saves in taking the loss. The Pioneers Jade Jandt worked the first half to get the win, making two saves. | Story and Stats 

A LOOK AT STOUT:  The Blue Devils finished the regular season with a 7-9-1 record, putting them in third place in the WIAC.  The Blue Devils will be hosting UW-La Crosse in a first round playoff game on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m.  Alix Hyduke leads the team in goals with six and, combined with three assists, has a team-best 15 points.  Kelly Conn is currently second on the team in goals and points with three and nine respectively.  Lauren Kizlik has scored four goals while Jenna Kizlik has two goals and two assist. With her game winner against Stevens Point, Emily Ferger upped her season total to three goals.  Kelsie Allen, Paige Meyer, Sarina Umlauf, Addy Maher, Whitney Solomon, Jessica Goodrich and Camille Fawcett each have one goal.  The Blue Devils have spread their scoring out fairly equally between halves as they have scored 11 goals in the first and 12 goals in the second half, along with two overtime goals.  Robbie Shelby and Paige Meyer have split time in net. Shelby has 60 saves with a goals against average of 1.93 and a 3-4-1 record. Meyer has 53 saves with a GAA of 1.26.  Hyduke finished tied for sixth in the conference in goals.  She finished second in the conference in game winning goals.  Emily Ferger finished tied for fourth in game winning goals with two.  | 2013 Stats

A LOOK AT UW-LA CROSSE:   The Eagles finished the regular season 6-10-1, earning the sixth and final playoff spot.  They have won three out of their last four games heading into the playoffs.  La Crosse has scored four first half goals and fifteen second half goals this season.  Jamie Oschenwald leads the team with 12 points.  Kelly Denk's five goals are tops on the team.  Laura Sauer leads the team with five assists.  Ashley Tracy finished in third in the conference with 84 saves.  | 2013 Stats

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND LA CROSSE MET:  Camille Fawcett scored a game winning goal in overtime to lead Stout to a 2-1 victory over La Crosse on Saturday Sept. 28 2013.  | Story and Stats

STOUT IN THE WIAC TOURNAMENT: The WIAC tournament has not been kind to the Blue Devils over the years. Stout is 1-12-2 overall in the tournament. The last time the Blue Devils won a WIAC tournament game was in 1995 when they defeated UW-Superior, 2-1, in the play-in game, Stout's first year as a varsity program. The Blue Devils have recorded two ties, both to UW-River Falls. In .1995, the Blue Devils and the Falcons played to a 1-1 tie. Stout won the right to advance when they won a 4-3 shootout. Stout was on the other end of a shootout 13 years later when, in 2009, the teams again played to a 1-1 tie in River Falls. This time, the Falcons took the 4-3 shootout win. Two years ago, Stout hosted UW-Stevens Point in a quarterfinal game, only to fall, 1-0, to the Pointers.

AWARDS:  UW-Stout goalkeeper Paige Meyer notched her first two shutouts of the season and was selected as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) and the Northwestern Mutual UW-Stout athlete of the week on Oct. 29.  Alix Hyduke was named the UW-Stout athlete of the week, Sept. 6, after scoring five goals over her first three games, a feat that had been accomplished only once in the annals of UW-Stout soccer.  Emily Ferger was named the UW-Stout Northwestern Mutual athlete of the week after scoring the game winning goal against UW-Eau Claire.

UW-STOUT COACH RYAN RAUFUS: Coach Ryan Raufus (23-24-4) is in his third year as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Raufus played his college ball at Springfield College in Massachusetts and came to Stout after coaching at La Crosse Logan High School and La Crescent, Minn., High School.

QUICK HITS:  Senior Alix Hyduke (Duluth, Minn.) currently leads the 2013 team with six goals scored. In scoring her first five goals over the first three games of the season, Hyduke matched Alyssa Halverson as the only Blue Devil to accomplish that feat. Halverson scored her first five goals over three games in 1999 and went on to score 14 goals on the season...Kelly Conn scored her first collegiate goal in the Blue Devils' season opener against Concordia University....sophomore Jenna Kizlik (Hammond) was named the WIAC offensive player of the week Sept. 5, 2012 after scoring the game-winning goal in the season opener against St. Olaf...This year's captains for the Blue Devils are Alix Hyduke,  Emily Ferger (Wauwatosa) and Whitney Solomon (Duluth, Minn.)...Camille Fawcett scored her first career goal against UW-La Crosse.  

DOWN THE ROAD: The winner of the La Crosse/Stout game will advance to the WIAC Tournament semi-final game, Thursday, Nov. 7. A Blue Devil win will send Stout to second seeded UW-Oshkosh. A La Crosse win will send the Eagles to top seeded UW-Whitewater. The WIAC Championship game is Saturday, Nov. 9 at the highest remaining seeded team.