Soccer Preview: Stout travels to Oshkosh today in WIAC semi-final

Live Stats | Live Video | Oshkosh Preview | WIAC Tournament website

HIS WEEK'S GAMES: UW-Stout (8-9-1, 5-3-0 WIAC) will travel to UW-Oshkosh (11-7-1, 6-2-0 WIAC) Thursday, Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. in a WIAC Tournament Semi-finals meeting. Stout earned the third seed in the tournament, while the Titans are the second seed. The winner of the Oshkosh/Stout game will advance to the WIAC Tournament  game, Saturday, Nov. 9 at the highest remaining seeded team.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT:  Paige Meyer (So, Beldenville) led the Blue Devils to a 1-0 first round playoff victory over UW-La Crosse.  Meyer preserved the win in the final 14 minutes of the game, knocking down or grabbing four La Crosse shots heading fo the back of the net, three of them within less than a four minute span.  After a scoreless first half, Stout got the break it needed 15 minutes into the second half when Lauren Kizlik (Fr, Hammond) found Alix Hyduke  (Sr, Duluth, Minn), who buried the shot.  The Stout defense did the rest, keeping the Eagles (6-11-1) out of the net. Meyer ended the night with eight saves. The Eagles' Ashley Tracy had four saves.
  | Story and Stats 

A LOOK AT STOUT:  Thanks to the first round victory over La Crosse, the Blue Devils have advanced to the Semi-finals for the first time since 2005, when they also defeated La Crosse.  Alix Hyduke leads the team in goals with seven and, combined with three assists, has a team-best 17 points.  Kelly Conn and Lauren Kizlik are currently tied for second on the team in points with nine.  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 13 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 61 saves with a GAA of 1.13.  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-OSHKOSH:  The Titans finished the regular season 11-7-1, earning the second seed in the WIAC playoffs.  They have won eight out of their last ten games heading into the playoffs.  Oshkosh has outscored opponents 29-22 on the season.  Amanda Baalke leads the Titans with five goals, seven assists and 17 points.  Robyn Elliott, Megan White and Chelsea Kierszh all have four goals.  | 2013 Stats

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND OSHKOSH MET:  Oshkosh took a 1-0 victory over Stout on Sept. 21, 2013.  It was the conference opener for both teams.  | Story and Stats

STOUT IN THE WIAC TOURNAMENT: The WIAC tournament has not been kind to the Blue Devils over the years. Stout is 2-12-2 overall in the tournament.  Before this years opening round victory, the last time the Blue Devils had won a WIAC tournament game was in 2005 when they defeated UW-La Crosse. 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 (24-24-4) 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 seven 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...The Blue Devils have advanced to the WIAC semifinals for the first time since 2005.

DOWN THE ROAD: The winner of the Oshkosh/Stout game will advance to the WIAC Tournament championship game, Saturday, Nov. 9, at the highest remaining seeded team.