Soccer Preview: Blue Devils at Viterbo, then home to open WIAC Saturday

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (1-2-2, 0-0-0 WIAC) will be at Viterbo University (7-1-0, 0-0-0 MCC), Wednesday, Sept. 17, then will return home to open the WIAC portion of the schedule when they host UW-Platteville (4-2-0, 0-0-0 WIAC), Saturday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.

ON-LINE: All Blue Devil home soccer games will be available by Live Stats, network providing.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT:  The Blue Devils played Bethel University to a scoreless tie, Sept. 9, then made a swing through the Milwaukee area, falling to Concordia University, 3-1, Sept. 13, and tying 1-1 at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, Sept. 14. 

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT: Lauren Kizlik leads Stout with a pair of goals, but she has been out the last several games. Jenna Kizlik has added a goal and an assist. Sarah Todey, after missing the first several games, scored her first collegiate goal. Nikki Sedivy and Emma DeRubuis each have an assist.  Paige Meyer has a goals against average of 1.12 and has played all but 10 minutes between the pipes. Kristi Schurhammer played the other 10 minutes and stopped four shots during that brief period.. The Blue Devils return four of their six top scorers from last year. For the first time in nearly a decade, Stout landed four players on the All-WIAC team – and three of those players return, including midfielder Jenna Kizlik (Jr, Hammond), goalkeeper Paige Meyer (Jr, River Falls) and forward Lauren Kizlik (So, Hammond). The Kizlik sisters were among the team's leaders in scoring. Lauren was second on the team with five goals and one assist for 11 points, ranking in the top 10 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in scoring. Jenna, who missed nine games, finished with a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Meyer alternated in goal early during the season, but when the calendar turned to October she began to grab the majority of starts, including six during conference play. Meyer finished the year at 5-5-1, posting a goals against average of 1.19 and a saves percentage of .851. In WIAC games only, Meyer was 3-2-0, but dropped her GAA to 0.76. Stout is picked to finish fourth in the WIAC, according to a WIAC preseason poll.

A LOOK AT VITERBO UNIVERSITY: The have rolled their way to a 7-1-0 overall record and have recorded three consecutive shutouts, their latest coming over NCAA Division II Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday. Viterbo, whose only loss came to fellow NAIA member Cardinal Stritch, have outscored their opponents, 25-5 *3.12-0.62). Molly Mochmeta has racked up 10 goals and three assists already this season. Five different Viterbo players have scored two goals and 12 players have scored at least a point. Alicia Seachord is posting a 0.40 GAA, playing in all eight games. McKenzie Guth has seen time in six games and has a GAA of 1.00. The V-Hawks push the ball and hold a 62-18 advantage in corner kicks.

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND VITERBO MET: The V-Hawks piled on six goals before Paige Meyer played the field and scored Stout's only goal late in the game as Viterbo took a 6-1 win on a foggy night last September in Menomonie.

A LOOK AT UW-PLATTEVILLE: The Pioneers are coming off a 3-0 shutout over Lakeland College Monday, outshooting the Muskies, 32-1. Betty Rodriguez, Bianca Mahoney and Emily Phillips each scored. Platteville,picked to finish sixth in a preseason WIAC poll, welcomes back seven starters from last year's group that earned a spot in the WIAC tournament for the first time since 2010.  The 2013 squad also established a program record with four conference regular-season victories.  Sophomore Yamilex Jaramillo is the top returning scorer with 12 points to her credit a season ago. Julie Diviti currently leads Platteville with three goals, while Rodriguez and Katelyn Winther each have a pair of goals. Diviti and Winther each have an assist. Mandy Taylor has played just over 300 minutes in goal, starting three games and playing in all six. She has posted a GAA of 0.86. Katie Rash has started three games and has a GAA of 1.61.

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND PLATTEVILLE MET: After the Blue Devils dominated the series for years, the Pioneers have won the last two meetings, including a 2-1 win last season in the final regular season game in Platteville. The loss prevented the Blue Devils from finishing in a tie for second place, and Stout had to settle for a third seed in the tournament. Platteville's Sarah Eck scored two first period goals within six minutes of each other and UW-Stout could not catch up. The Pioneers opened the scoring at 33:36 on Eck's 20-yard shot. Eck came back at 38:49 to double the score. Stout's Jessica Goodrich cut the score in half with a goal in the 69th minute. 

AWARDS:  Paige Meyer, Jenna Kizlik, Lauren Kizlik and now assistant coach Emily Ferger were selected to the All-WIAC team, only the second time Stout has placed four players on the squad.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Blue Devil team captains for the 2014 season are Sarah Ulrich, Vanessa Wrobel and Jenna Kizlik.

UW-STOUT COACH RYAN RAUFUS: Coach Ryan Raufus (26-26-7) is in his fourth 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:  The Blue Devils overcame a slow start last season. Hampered by early season injuries, Stout won two of their first 10 games, but won six of their final nine games.

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils will be at Macalester College, Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m. and at UW-Oshkosh, Saturday, Sept. 27 a 3 p.m.