Soccer Preview: Blue Devils wrap up regular season at Superior

Live Stats at UW-Superior | Live Video at UW-Superior

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (7-7-3, 2-4-1 WIAC) will close out the regular season when they travel to former conference foe UW-Superior (2-12-0, 2-8-0 UMAC), Wednesday, Oct. 28 for a 7 p.m. game. The Blue Devils have completed conference play and will have to keep an eye on league games to see where they will wind up in the conference standings. Stout is currently in sixth. A loss by UW-Stevens Point in one of their two remaining league games gives Stout the sixth seed and a WIAC tournament bid for the quarterfinals set for Tuesday, Nov. 3.

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

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: Addy Maher took a pass from Sydney Kasper with 46 seconds left in overtime as the Blue Devils beat Minnesota-Morris, 1-0, Oct. 25. The Blue Devils put 15 shots on frame and outshot the Cougars, 36-4. | Minnesota-Morris Complete Story and Stats

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT: The Blue Devils broke a seven game winless streak with the 1-0 win over UM-Morris Oct. 25. Previous to that win, until Whitewater put four goals on the board Oct. 24, the Blue Devil defense had not allowed more than two goals over the previous 10 games. Paige Meyer has played nearly all of the minutes in goal and has a goals against average of 1.03. Addy Maher leads the team in points with four goals and four assists. while Jenna Kizlik has four goals and three assists. Sydney Kasper has matched the two seniors in goals with four and has two assists. Megan Collins, Sarah Todey and Kelly Conn each have two goals, with Conn and Collins each recording an assist. Collins has scored all of her points since moving up to the midfield. Lindsey Concon has come off the bench to add two assists and defender Haley Wentz has two assists, the first of her collegiate career. Camille Fawcett also has an assist. The Blue Devils have scored 17 total goals and have given up 18. | 2015 Stats

ON THE RIGHT PAIGE: When UW-Platteville scored in the 78th minute of UW-Stout's 3-1 win at UW-Platteville, the goal stopped the longest scoreless streak in Blue Devil goalkeeper Paige Meyer's collegiate career. After allowing a goal in double overtime to Viterbo University, Sept. 16, Meyer did not allow a goal for 358 minutes, four games later at Platteville. So far this season, Meyer has five shutouts. Charla Buxbaum (2005) and Melissa Ballweg (2002) share the season record for most shutouts with eight. Ballweg (2001-04) holds the career shutout record with 21. Meyer currently has 13 career shutouts, second on the all-time list. The teams from 2003, 2004 and 2005 produced 10 shutouts each season.


A LOOK AT UW-SUPERIOR: The Yellowjackets moved from the WIAC to the UMAC this season and while they have engaged in closer contests, their overall record has not shown improvement.Britt Zieroth leads the team with four goals, while Sally Linzmeier, who is playing soccer after four outstanding years on the basketball court, has three goals. Bailey Henderson has a 0-7-1 record in net with a GAA of 3.02 and Alexandra Paige is 2-5-0 with a GAA of 1.55. | 2015 Stats

SUPERIOR THE LAST TIME OUT: The Yellowjacket women's soccer team has played noticeably better this season than in the past. They have outplayed their opponent in multiple matches this season only to see the final score not be in their favor. Saturday afternoon against Northwestern was another one of those games that the Yellowjackets could have won, only to see a chance at victory slip from their grasp as they fell 1-0. | Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND SUPERIOR MET: Five different players scored for UW-Stout, led by Lauren Kizlik's pair of first half goals, as the Blue Devils ran away with a 6-0 win over UW-Superior Oct.10 at Nelson Field. The victory snapped a five-game winless streak for Stout that dated back to Sept. 20. Stout holds a 20-0-1 record against the Yellowjackets, with the tie coming in 1995, Stout's first year as a varsity program. | Story and Stats


AWARDS: Sarah Todey was the UW-Stout/Northwestern Mutual athlete of the week after a two goal week, including the game winner in double overtime against St. Scholastica...Nikky Sedivy earned WIAC defensive player of the week honors after the opening week of the season as Stout allowed only one goal in two overtime ties...Addy Maher was the Blue Devils offensive player of the week and Nikki Sedivy was the defensive player of the week after the first week of the season...2014: Jenna Kizlik and Vanessa Wrobel were all-WIAC selections, Kizlik for the second consecutive season...Paige Meyer was the WIAC defensive player of the week Oct. 21 after holding nationally ranked UW-Whitewater to one goal in double overtime.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Blue Devil team captains for the 2015 season are Sarah Ulrich, Vanessa Wrobel and Jenna Kizlik.

UW-STOUT COACH RYAN RAUFUS: Coach Ryan Raufus (37-41-11) is in his fifth 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 posted five shutouts last year, but were kept off the scoreboard 11 times. Stout had two offensive breakouts, a 6-0 conference win over UW-Superior and a 6-2 non-conference win over Gustavus Adolphus. The Blue Devils were in the middle of the conference pack in just about every offensive and defensive statistical category.

TWENTY YEARS OF BLUE DEVIL SOCCER: After many years as a club sport, UW-Stout became the ninth WIAC team to join the varsity ranks during the 1995 season. The Blue Devils took their lumps to open the season, making their premiere by hosting Augsburg College, Sept. 10, in a 7-0 loss. Stout opened the conference season three days later at Nelson Field, hosting perennial conference powerhouse UW-Stevens Point, dropping a 6-0 decision. The Blue Devils finally broke onto the scoreboard in their third game. While hosting UW-Platteville, Sept. 17, Kari Stapleton scored in the 70th minute on an assist from Jenny Tyson in a 2-1 loss. The Blue Devils would get their first-ever win, a 3-0 decision at Martin Luther College, Sept. 23, collecting goals from Amie Frasier, Tyson and Joann Sognesand. Defender Andrea Schroeder was a second team all-conference selection in 1995, then was selected to the first team in 1996.

Members of that first 1995 team include: April Amys, Beeta Bastani, Tammy Beuch, Carrie Blaska, Jen Chapple, Michelle Coon, Amie Frasier, Aimee Grimm, Jamie Jester, Julie Kremer, Dorian Loberg, Amy Lyons, Kristin Manion, Anglea McDowell, Andrea Schroeder, Joann Sognesand, Kari Stapleton, Jenny Tyson, Alisa Zimmerman. Lisa Petruccelli was the Blue Devils first coach, leading the team from 1995-98, followed by Dave Morris (1999-2005), Meagan Frank (2006-10) and Ryan Raufus (2011-present). | 1995 Statistics

SAINTLY SCHEDULE: The Blue Devils may feel blessed (or not) after going through the early part of their schedule when they play five schools named after saints - College of St. Benedict (Sept. 5), St. Catherine (Sept. 8), St. Thomas (Sept. 12), St. Scholastica (Sept. 20) and St. Mary's (Sept. 23). The Blue Devils went 4-0-1 against all of the saints combined