Soccer Preview: Blue Devils open at home with Carleton Friday

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THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (0-2-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) will open the home season by hosting Carleton College (2-0-0, 0-0-0 MIAC), Friday, Sept. 8 at 5 p.m. The game will mark the first time the teams have met since the first game of the 2002 season.


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 opened the season with a 2-0 loss at Johns Hopkins University, Sept. 2, then suffered an overtime 3-2 loss to Mount St. Mary College, Sept. 3. Lynn Johnson had 10 saves in the loss to host Johns Hopkins last weekend in Baltimore, Md. The Blue Jays scored early in the second half on a penalty kick, then closed the game out with a late tally. The Blue Devils held the advantage in just about every category except the final score against Mount St. Mary College Sunday. Mount St. Mary opened with a goal in the 28th minute, but Sarah Dickmann knotted the score seven minutes later on a penalty kick. Stout took the lead in the 44th minute on defender Nikky Sedivy's goal. Johnson recorded five saves in the contest, but the Blue Devil defense allowed a goal around the 88th minute mark, and then again in the 96th minute to end the game | Johns Hopkins Story and Stats | Mount St. Mary Story and Stats

A LOOK AT UW-STOUT: The UW-Stout soccer team 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 CARLETON COLLEGE: The Knights return all-MIAC selections Ruby Kazemi and Madeline Topf. Topf and Kazemi started all 17 contests and finished the year second and tied for third on the Knights, respectively, in points. Topf's four goals tied for tops on the squad as did her game-winning scores against St. Olaf and Gustavus Adolphus. Three of Topf's goals gave Carleton the lead, and she also added an assist on the game-winning goal at Concordia-Moorhead. Kazemi, meanwhile, finished second on the Knights with 1547 minutes played. She scored twice and added a game-winning assist vs. St. Olaf. The Knights last season finished the season at 4-11-2 overall, 4-6-1 in the MIAC. | Statistics

CARLETON COLLEGE LAST TIME OUT: Nora Mertz notched her third goal of the season it was another early goal that lifted the Carleton College women's soccer team to a 1-0 triumph over Nebraska Wesleyan in the Knights home opener on Sept. 2. Fans that arrived late to Bell Field missed all the scoring as Mertz scored in the sixth minute. All three of her scores this season have come in the opening 10 minutes of a contest. She currently ranks second among MIAC players in goals scored this year. Mertz scored twice in the early going and Libby Franchot added the game winner late as the Carleton College women's soccer team picked up a 3-2 victory at UW-Eau Claire in the season opener, Sept. 1, for both squads. | Nebraska Wesleyan Story and Stats. | UW-Eau Claire Story and Stats

THE LAST TIME CARLETON AND STOUT MET: Steph Hennick made six saves for the Blue Devils, but Kay Holmes got the game-winner in the 70th minute as Carleton notched a 1-0 season opening win, Aug. 31, 2002.

THE SERIES: Carleton leads the series at 3-0.


BLUE DEVIL ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Offense: Sarah Dickmann, So, Shawano, Wis. Defense: Nikki Sedivy, Sr, Medford, Minn. (Owatonna)

AWARDS: .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.


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 (44-55-13) 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 UW-Superior, Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. The game will be at the Superior High School field.