Soccer Preview: Blue Devils host La Crosse Wednesday, to EC Saturday

Live Stats | at UW-Eau Claire: Live Stats

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (6-8-1, 3-2-0 WIAC) will close out the regular season with a pair of conference games. Stout will host UW-La Crosse (11-4-0, 3-2-0 WIAC), Wednesday, Oct. 26, then close out the regular season by traveling to UW-Eau Claire (6-8-2, 3-2-1 WIAC), Saturday, Oct. 29. While UW-Whitewater has the top seed locked up, the remaining seeds from No. 2 down to No. 6 are up for grabs. Stout and La Crosse are currently in a three-way tie for third and are the only two teams with two games remaining. Stout will be at UW-Eau Claire Saturday afternoon, while the Eagles will close out their regular Saturday at UW-Oshkosh, the other team Stout and La Crosse are tied with in league play.

ON-LINE: All Blue Devil home soccer games will be available by Live Stats, network willing. The network at the soccer field has not been active this season, but live updates are available on Twitter.

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils lost to Gustavus Adolphus, 2-1, Oct. 19, defeated UW-Platteville, 2-0, and tied Minnesota-Morris, 1-1, Oct. 23. The Blue Devils pelted the Cougars' net throughout the game, but especially in the second half. Stout held a whopping 35-6 advantage in total shots and put 17 shots on frame to four for Morris, but could only forge a 1-1 tie. Stout outshot Morris 23-0 in the second half. The Cougars' Torri Jordan recorded 16 saves and Stout's Lynn Johnson had three saves. Sydney Kasper opened the scoring and got what would prove to be Stout's sole goal of the game when she handled the ball off a free kick and put the ball home in the ninth minute, getting an assist from Jenna Swenson. The Cougars knotted the score in the 38th minute on an unassisted goal from Molly Hancuh. | Story and Stats

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT: TThe Blue Devils are coming off a 1-1 non-conference tie with Minnesota-Morris where the Blue Devils outshot the Cougars, 35-6, and 23-0 in the second half. Sydney Kasper ran her goals total to seven at Morris. Kasper currently has three assists for 17 points, ranking third in the WIAC. Her seven goals puts her in a tie for fourth in the league. Freshman Ryanne Millis and senior Sarah Todey each have four goals and two assists. Kelly Conn and Hannah Kirchner each have three goals and Conn has added three assists for nine points. Conn has scored all but one of her points in the month of October. Sarah Dickmann has earned three assists. Lynn Johnson has been holding down the fort in the net, tallying a GAA of 1.07, ranking fiffh in the WIAC. The Blue Devils are outscoring their opponents, 22-17. | Statistics


A LOOK AT UW-LA CROSSE: The Eagles were ranked fifth in the latest NSCAA North Region poll. The Eagles have put together eight shutouts this season and goalie Kennedy Brault is second in the WIAC in goals against average with a mark of 0.62. Alex Cording is the team's leading scorer with seven goals and two assists. Haley Hartkemeyer has five goals and four assists. | Statistics

THE EAGLES LAST TIME OUT: The Eagles lost 2-0 to nationally ranked and conference champion UW-Whitewater Saturday at home. Devon Polk gave UW-Whitewater a 1-0 lead at 6:10, scoring her third goal of the season. It was unassisted. The Warhawks took a 2-0 lead at 38:27 with Brianna Reid scoring her 11th goal of the year with Morgan Beaty recording an assist. UWL outshot UW-Whitewater, 16-12, in the game, including 8-7 in the first half and 8-5 in the second. | Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND LA CROSSE MET: La Crosse recorded the only goal of the game in the 41st minute when Margaret Harings scored and the Eagles made the lone goal stand up, Oct. 10, 2015, in La Crosse. Both teams put three goals on net. | Stats and Story


A LOOK AT UW-EAU CLAIRE: Caroline Henderson leads the Blugolds in goals with six and has three game-winning goals. Jocelyn has four goals. The Blugolds have scored 17 goals and have given up 17 goals. Sammie Lafaive has a goals against average of 0.96. The Blugolds have had a scoring drought and are winless in their last three games, 0-2-1, and have scored only one goal in their last four, but that was a big goal when they dropped UW-La Crosse, 1-0, Oct. 14. | Statistics

THE BLUGOLDS LAST TIME OUT: Defense ruled the day as the two teams battled in the WIAC match-up. After one half of play, the score remained knotted at zero with the Blugolds out-shooting the Titans 8-4. The Titan offense came to life in the second half, however, as they out-shot the Eau Claire 9-2 and were able to find the back of the net off the foot of Alek Kleis in the 72nd minute. Sammie Lefaive recorded seven saves in the loss. | Stats and Story

THE LAST TIME STOUT AND EAU CLAIRE MET: Stout controlled the field the majority of the game, but could not put the ball in the back of the net and the Blue Devils were defeated by UW-Eau Claire, 2-0, Sept. 30, 2015, at Nelson Field. The Blugolds put only two shots on goal, but both shots found the back of the net. Tara Dennehy scored in the 22nd minute to open the scoring and Eva Charlesworth-Seiler deflected a shot off a Stout player in the 41st minute to end the scoring. | Stats and Story


AWARDS: Kelly Conn was named the WIAC Offensive Player of the Week and the UW-Stout/DigiCopy Athlete of the week Oct. 17 after scoring the game winning goal against St. Thomas and assisting on the game winner over UW-Oshkosh...UW-Stout has has received the 2015-2016 NSCAA College Team Academic Award. To qualify, a team must earn a minimum grade point average for the entire academic year. Stout posted a 3.43 team GPA, the highest of the six WIAC teams that were honored...Sydney Kasper and Jessica Ingle were selected to the Concordia-Moorhead all-tournament team, Sept. 4...2015: Megan Collins was named CoSIDA Academic All-District VI. Collins is an Applied Math and Computer Science major and has a GPA of 3.89...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.

TEAM CAPTAINS: Blue Devil team captains for the 2016 season are Taylor Poss, Sarah Todey and Kelly Conn.

UW-STOUT COACH RYAN RAUFUS: Coach Ryan Raufus (44-50-13) is in his sixth 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 six shutouts last year, but were kept off the scoreboard six times.

TWENTY-ONE 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

DOWN THE ROAD: The Blue Devils have already locked up a WIAC tournament berth and are still in the chase to host a first round game and possibly a first round bye. The quarterfinals are Tuesday, Nov. 1, the semi-finals Thursday, Nov. 3 and the championship, Saturday, Nov. 5.