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Southwest Minnesota State (1-5-0, 1-1-0 NSIC) hosts Concordia-St. Paul (4-5-0, 1-1-0 NSIC) and St. Cloud State (3-3-0, 1-1-0 NSIC) for two conference games this weekend at Mattke Field at the Regional Event Center.  Saturday's game will be against CU at 11 a.m.  Sunday's game against SCSU will begin at 1 p.m.  All three teams enter the weekend tied for seventh in the NSIC.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Concordia St. Paul: The Golden Bears enter Saturday with a 4-5-0 overall record and 1-1-0 in the NSIC.  Emily Weimelt (MF/F, Fr.) has scored six goals for CU and attempted 41 shots so far this season.  Teammate Savannah Nolen (F, Fr.) leads the squad with four assists and has one goal.  Chloe Weinberg (MF, Fr.) is second in asissts with three.  Goalkeeper Keyton Wheelock (GK, Sr.) is 3-4-0 with a 1.39 GAA and .825 save percentage.  The Golden Bears have been inconsistent so far this season, winning four times by shutout, but also losing four times by shutout.  They split last weekend by defeating Wayne State 1-0, but losing to Augustana 1-0 in double overtime.  CU is 1-3 in away games this season.

St. Cloud State: The Huskies come into the weekend with an overall record of 3-3-0 and an NSIC record of 1-1-0.  Kyrsten Flynn-Wallace (F, Fr.) has four goals and one assist to lead the team.  Tara Evangelist (MF, Jr.), Lindsey Sather (F, So.) and Kara Larsen (F, Sr.) each have two goals.  Chelsey Scheller (F, Jr.) has a team-high four assists.  SCSU is coming off a 3-0 win over Wayne State last Sunday after losing to Augustana 1-0 on Saturday.  The Huskies are 0-2 on the road this season, with a 3-0 loss at Concordia and a 2-1 overtime loss at Northern Michigan.

SERIES HISTORY
SMSU leads the all-time series against CU with an 8-2-1 overall record against the Golden Bears.  SMSU also holds a 5-1-0 edge in games played in Marshall.  Both losses to Concordia came last season.  SCSU holds a 8-2-1 edge against SMSU, including a 3-1-1 record against the Mustangs in Marshall.  The Huskies won 4-2 last season in St. Cloud, but the two teams played to a scoreless tie in 2006.

MUSTANG NOTES
The Southwest Minnesota State soccer team defeated Bemidji State 1-0 in the NSIC opener on Saturday at the Regional Event Center in Marshall.

It was a day of firsts for the Mustangs, as first-year head coach Amy Olson won her first game at Southwest.  It was also the first-ever win for SMSU at the new Regional Event Center.

Kendra Olchefske was tremendous in the net for the Mustangs, making nine saves for her first career shutout, including two saves in the final two minutes of the game.

The Mustangs got on the board at 39:14 when Tatum Borstad's free kick from the left front side of the south goal found Kelly Fitzgerald, who headed the ball into the net.

BSU had appeared to tie the game just six minutes into the second half, but the Beavers were called offsides to nullify a goal.

Southwest kept control of the ball for much of the second half, but Bemidji made a run in the final minutes.  Olchefske made a save with 1:58 remaining.  The Beavers got two more chances moments later as Olchefske made a save on a breakaway with 1:06 left and a Southwest teammate blocked another shot just seconds later to stop the run.

SMSU tied a season-high with 11 shot attempts, including seven on goal, the most it has had this season.  Jena Tiemeyer led the Mustangs with three shots on goal.

On Sunday, SMSU lost 3-0 to Minnesota Duluth in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game at the Regional Event Center in Marshall.  The loss drops the Mustangs to 1-5-0 overall and 1-1-0 in the NSIC, while the Bulldogs improve to 1-6-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the NSIC.

UMD jumped on top early and never looked back.  Brittany Brown scored for the Bulldogs 15 minutes and 43 seconds into the game as she beat a Mustang defender in the box to breakaway for her second goal of the season.  Clare Dahmen scored nearly 18 minutes later on a breakaway after stealing the ball from another Southwest defender.

The Bulldogs added an insurance goal in the 67th minute as Reegan Lloyd struck from 30 yards out.

SMSU had two opportunities in the final eight minutes of the game as Fitzgerald broke free from the Bulldog defense, but UMD goalkeeper Hannah Bengtson made the save to keep the Mustangs off the board.  Fitzgerald had one more opportunity less than two minutes later, but her shot attempt was blocked by a Bulldog defender.

HEAD COACH AMY OLSON
Southwest Minnesota State University director of athletics Chris Hmielewski announced on Dec. 28, 2007, that Amy Olson would be named the new head women's soccer coach at SMSU.  Olson, who is the third head coach in the program's 12-year history, replaces Jill McCartney who resigned following the 2007 season.

Olson completed her fourth season as head coach at NCAA Division I South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C., in 2007.  Prior to taking over the helm at South Carolina State, Olson spent two seasons as an assistant coach at NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M University where she helped start its women's soccer program.  During her two years at Prairie View A&M, Olson also coached a pair of club teams in Minnesota, the West Side Soccer Association in St. Paul and the Minneapolis Soccer Association in Minneapolis.

Olson's teams had tremendous success in the classroom, as South Carolina State's Academic Progress Rate (APR) was a perfect 1,000.  On the field, SCSU had five players earn postseason honors from the United Soccer Conference in 2007.

Olson has a record of 1-5-0 at SMSU and 1-1-0 in the NSIC.

FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES AT SMSU
Olson is in her first year as the third head coach in SMSU history.  Jen Zebroski posted a 1-13 overall record and 1-3 record in the NSIC in 1996, the first year of the program.  SMSU's lone win that season was a 4-2 victory over Bemidji State on the road in the fourth game of the season.  Jill McCartney took over in 1998 and went 7-11 and 3-3 in the NSIC, including shutout wins over Wayne State, Minnesota, Crookton, Viterbo (Wis.), Minnesota-Morris and Northern State (twice).

OLCHEFSKE'S FIRST CAREER SHUTOUT
Kendra Olchefske was tremendous in the net for the Mustangs, making nine saves for her first career shutout in a 1-0 win over Bemidji State on Sept. 20, including two saves in the final two minutes of the game.

Olchefske made a save with 1:58 remaining.  The Beavers got two more chances moments later as Olchefske made a save on a breakaway with 1:06 left and a Southwest teammate blocked another shot just seconds later to stop the run.

FRESHMAN FIRSTS
Freshmen Kelly Fitzgerald and Brittany Oehlerking each scored their first career goals in a 4-3 double overtime loss at NCAA Division South Dakota on Wednesday, Sept. 3.  Fitzgerald found the net at 5:16 in the first half and again at 20:17 as she scored twice.  Oehlerking scored her first career goal 18:08 into the game.

MUSTANGS PICKED 12TH IN NSIC
The Southwest Minnesota State women's soccer team was picked to finish 12th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason coaches poll.  Minnesota State, Mankato was picked to win the conference with 164 points, including nine first-place votes.  SMSU had a total of 34 points in the poll.

Winona State was picked second, just nine points behind MSU after winning the regular season conference title a year ago.  University of Mary's Megan Wilson was chosen as the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, while Winona State's  Heidi Woerle was selected as the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.