Soccer Preview: Blue Devils have busy week with three games

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (1-3-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) have a busy week and will be at Gustavus Adolphus College (4-1-1, 1-0-0 MIAC) Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 4 p.m., then return home to host Bethel University, (3-3-0, 0-2-0 MIAC) Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m., followed by a trip to La Crosse to take on Viterbo University (3-3-3) Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. In a rather weird coincidence of the schedule, Gustavus holds a 6-3-2 record over Stout, while the Blue Devils hold a 6-3-2 advantage over the Royals.


ON-LINE: All Blue Devil home soccer games will be available by Live Stats, and by Live Video, network willing. There have been issues on the field in the past, but hopefully that has been rectified.


BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: The Blue Devils were finally able to pull together both the offense and the defense in a 4-0 decision over UW-Superior, Sept. 13. Four different players scored and the defense completely shut out the Yellowjackets, allowing no shots of any kind. | UW-Superior Story and Stats

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT: The Blue Devils have gotten goals from seven different players, including two by Sarah Dickmann, both on penalty kicks. Last season's leading scorer, Sydney Kasper, picked up her first goal of the season last week. Kasper leads the team in assists with three. Ryanne Millis has a goal and a pair of assists and freshman Kaitlyn Hess has a goal and an assist. Lynn Johnson, a first team all-WIAC selection last season, has played all but one half in goal and has been pelted a bit, posting a goals against average (GAA) of 2.24. She shared a shutout with freshman Rachel Nowak with a 4-0 win over UW-Superior. The Blue Devils finished the 2016 season with an overall record of 6-11-2 and a conference record of 3-4. With the conference record, the Blue Devils earned the fourth seed and were able to host a WIAC Soccer Championship quarterfinal game. The season came to a sudden end when UW-Oshkosh scored on a penalty kick in the 98th minute.The team captains this year will feature Jessica Ingle, Nikki Sedivy, and Sydney Kasper. Ingle and Sedivy both started all 19 games in the back row. Kasper was the team's leading scorer with nine goals, three assists for 21 points which earned her first team all-WIAC honors. Returning in net this year is sophomore Lynn Johnson and she is joined by freshman Rachel Nowak. Johnson started all 19 games in goal last season, while earning first team all-WIAC honors. She led the conference in saves with 98, fifth in GAA (1.32), sixth in save percentage (.797) and recorded four shutouts on her own. Ryanne Millis was the team's second-leading scorer, with four goals and three assists. Hannah Kirchner popped in three goals and Sarah Dickmann finished with three assists. Bella Pedlar scored her first collegiate goal last season. | Statistics


A LOOK AT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS: Two years removed from the program's first-ever MIAC Playoff title and NCAA Tournament bid, Gustavus Adolphus College claimed the No. 3 spot in the 2017 Preseason Coaches' Poll. Led by one of the Conference's premier goalkeepers, junior Ashley Becker, the Gusties could be positioned as a tough out in MIAC play this season. Becker, an All-Conference and All-Region honoree last season, began the 2017 campaign with three consecutive shutouts and ended up ranked second among MIAC keepers with a total of 94 saves on the year. Honorable mention All-Conference defender Josie Mazzone is back in the lineup as well, which should pose a serious threat to opponents' scoring efforts. | Statistics

GUSTAVUS LAST TIME OUT: In front of a record-setting crowd Saturday for a women's soccer game at the Gustie Soccer Field, Gustavus erased a second half 1-0 deficit and came away with an emotional 2-1 victory over Concordia on a day that celebrated Trina Rinke – a would-be junior defender who is missing the season as a result of her treatment for ovarian cancer, which was diagnosed this summer. | Concordia Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME GUSTAVUS AND STOUT MET: A late goal by Ryanne Millis helped UW-Stout back into the game, Oct. 19, 2016 in Menomonie, with eight minutes remaining, but the Gustavus Adolphus' defense held off the rest of the attack to hand Stout a 2-1 loss. Stout had nine shots on the game, but were only able to capitalize on Millis' shot. The Gusties scored in the eighth and 57th minutes. | Story and Stats

THE SERIES: Gustavus leads the series at 6-3-2.


A LOOK AT BETHEL UNIVERSITY: After finishing 0-11 against MIAC opponents and 3-15 overall in 2015, the Bethel Royals staged a dramatic turnaround last season under the guidance of 2016 MIAC Coach of the Year Amanda Maxwell, posting an 8-3 Conference record and a 13-4-1 mark during the regular season. Rising junior forward Maggie Sipe played a key role in last year's 10-win improvement, finishing her first season as a Royal with 28 points on 10 goals and eight assists. This season, all of Bethel's wins have been shutouts, including a 15-0 win over Iowa Wesleyan Sept. 3, and the Royals have been shutout in all of their loss. Sipe has scored five goals and an assist, while Brooke Ogne has three goals and four assists. Kaylee Peterson has appeared in all six games and has a GAA of 0.99. | Statistics

BETHEL LAST TIME OUT: Bethel lost to Augsburg 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Ona Orth Athletic Complex. It did not take long for the Auggies to get on the board when in the third minute of the game Ashley St. Aubin scored on a great individual effort putting the Auggies up 1-0 and they would not look back. | Augsburg Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME BETHEL AND STOUT MET: The teams played to a scoreless tie, Sept. 9, 2014, at Bethel University. Paige Meyer posted her second shutout of the season and recorded nine saves. | Story and Stats

THE SERIES: Stout leads the series at 6-3-2.



A LOOK AT VITERBO UNIVERSITY: Four V-Hawks have scored two goals apiece this season - Macy Kalschuer (2-1-5), Taylor Sommers (2-1-5), Niccole D'Ambrose (2-0-4) and Isabelle Ferm (2-0-4). Viterbo has scored 10 total goals and has given up 10 goals. Abby Breitbach has two shutouts and is posting a GAA of 1.03, playing all of the minutes so far this season. | Statistics

VITERBO LAST TIME OUT: After playing 120 minutes of scoreless soccer earlier in the week, Viterbo came out on a mission to score Saturday. Mission accomplished as the V-Hawks scored twice to defeat St. Ambrose University 2-0, the first time they have beaten the Bees since the 2008 season. Isabelle Ferm scored in the 41st minute and Rachel Rudd scored in the 75th minute. | St. Ambrose Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME VITERBO AND STOUT MET: The V-Hawks took a 3-2 overtime decision, Sept. 16, 2015, in Menomonie. The loss was the first of the season for the Blue Devils (2-1-2), which opened the scoring in the contest when freshman Sydney Kasper scored her first collegiate goal in the 21st minute, getting an assist from Camille Fawcett. Molly Machometa scored the game winner with three minutes remaining in the first overtime period. | Story and Stats

THE SERIES: Stout leads the series at 7-4-0.


BLUE DEVIL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Offense: Sydney Kasper, Jr, Owatonna, Minn. Defense: Haley Wentz, Sr, Naperville, Ill (Matea Valley)

AWARDS: 2017: x...2016: Goalie Lynn Johnson, and forwards Kelly Conn Sydney Kasper were all-WIAC first team selections...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 2017 season are Taylor Poss, Jessica Ingle and Sydney Kasper.

UW-STOUT COACH RYAN RAUFUS: Coach Ryan Raufus (45-56-13) is in his seventh 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.

TWENTY-TWO 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 will be at Hamline University, Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m., then will open the WIAC season when they host UW-Whitewater, Saturday, Sept. 30 at 2 p.m.