OPENING KICK
After snapping a three-game skid and finding the win column again with a pair of shutouts to SCSU and UMD last week, the Southwest Minnesota State soccer team will look to keep up the success as it travels to Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston this weekend. The Mustangs will face BSU on Saturday before playing UMC on Sunday. Both games are slated to start at 1 p.m.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
BEMIDJI STATE—Bemidji State will enter the weekend 6-4 overall and 3-4 in the NSIC. Bemidji State is 4-3 at home this season and is on a three-game home losing streak. The Beavers opened the season with a conference win to Minnesota Crookston and recorded wins to U-Mary and Wayne State for their three conference wins this season. BSU is 1-3 in its last four games with them all decided by a goal. Bemidji State finished the 2014 campaign 9-9-1 overall and 8-6-1 in the NSIC.

MINNESOTA CROOKSTON—UMC will enter the weekend 2-7-1 overall and 2-5 in the NSIC. Minnesota Crookston will face Sioux Falls on Saturday before facing SMSU on Sunday. UMC is on a three-game skid with it's last and only wins coming before in a pair to U-Mary and Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Eagles finished the 2014 season 6-6-6 overall and 5-5-5 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

SERIES HISTORY
BEMIDJI STATE—Southwest Minnesota State will meet Bemidji State for just the 21st time in program history on Saturday afternoon with SMSU holding a 11-5-4 advantage in a series that started back in the 1996 season. The Mustangs hold a 6-4 record in games played in Bemidji, Minn., with their last win coming in 2013 and loss in 2011.

MINNESOTA CROOKSTON—SMSU will face UMC for the 20th time in program history on Sunday with SMSU holding a 16-2-1 record in a series that started back in 1997. The Mustangs will look for their fourth-straight win and seventh-straight in Crookston. SMSU's last loss in Crookston comes back in 2003 and it has shutout the Golden Eagles in the last four matchups of the series.

HEAD COACH
Erin Kasmarik-Mallett is in her first season as head women's soccer coach at Southwest Minnesota State in 2015. She was named to the position on July 23, 2015. Kasmarik-Mallett, who becomes the fifth head coach in program history, comes to SMSU after serving as the head boys' soccer coach at Brookings (S.D.) High School for two seasons (2013-14) and has also served as an assistant women's soccer coach at South Dakota State University. She has also coached several club teams in South Dakota since 2010.