SMSU Athletics

October 24, 2013 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

The SMSU Department of Athletics has two very special events this Friday and Saturday for Mustang fans to attend. On Friday, the SMSU Volleyball program will host the third annual "Red Out" presented by the Minnesota National Guard. Fans are encouraged to wear red in an effort to raise awareness of heart disease. The first 500 fans will receive a free "Red Out" t-shirt courtesy of the Minnesota National Guard.

Saturday, the SMSU Men’s Basketball team will host an exhibition game to open the 2013-14 season versus the SMSU Alumni Team starting beginning at 5 p.m. in the R/A Facility as part of the fourth annual "Andy Wiersma Day" at SMSU.

Tickets for the game are $5 for adults, while kids 13-and-under will be admitted free. SMSU students will be admitted free with valid SMSU ID. Proceeds from the game will go towards the Andy Wiersma "AW" Memorial Scholarship as well as a donation to the SMSU Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

The game will also be the first-ever "Mini Mustang" kickoff, as all 2013-14 Mini-Mustangs are encouraged to attend the game to get autographs and take photos – with both current and former Mustangs. Information on Mini-Mustangs and registration for this year's session will be available at the game.

The SMSU Alumni team will consist of some of the best players in school history. Players expected to play include Ryan Krome, DeAnthony Zanders, Undre Ellis, Andy Beilke, Trent Carlson, Jordan Miller, Jon DeRock, Andrew Peschong, Kevin Andrews, Nick Dale, Jeremy VanKlompenburg, Casey Sussenguth, Tyler Peschong and Jordan Buddenhagen.

Andy Wiersma passed away in an auto accident on July 27, 2008. He was a four-year letterwinner at SMSU from 2002-06, playing in 112 career games with 36 starts. He scored 418 points while grabbing 237 rebounds in his career. He shot 42.6 percent from the field (135-of-317) including 37.7 percent from three-point range (69-of-183).

Following his playing career in 2006, the SMSU men's basketball program honored Wiersma by renaming its "Mustang Award" the "Andy Wiersma Mustang Award". The award is given each year to an SMSU men's basketball player who exemplifies the qualities of being a Mustang men's basketball student-athlete. I invite you out to the R/A Facility this Saturday to join us in celebrating Andy Wiersma Day at SMSU as we kick-off the 2013-14 Mustang Men’s Basketball season.

For all the latest information on the SMSU Department of Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week in SMSU Athletics

The #25 SMSU Soccer team (13-1, 9-1 NSIC) collected two NSIC road victories last week winning at MSU Moorhead and Northern State. With those two wins, Southwest returns to the NSCAA/Continental Tire top 25 national rankings earning the #25 spot in the poll. The Mustangs are in 2nd place in the NSIC only to MSU Mankato who is undefeated in conference play.

Yesterday, the NCAA Division II Central Region rankings for Women’s Soccer were released with SMSU making their first appearance ever in program history ranked 3rd. MSU is ranked first in the Central Region followed by Central Missouri, SMSU, UMD, Winona State, Upper Iowa, Southwestern Oklahoma State and Lindenwood (MO).

This Saturday, SMSU will travel to Concordia, St. Paul (4-10, NSIC 3-8) to take on the Golden Bears before traveling to #2 Mankato on Sunday to compete against Minnesota State (13-1, NSIC 11-0) with both weekend matches starting at 1:00 p.m. Sunday’s match pins two of the top teams in the NSIC and Central Region against each other in what could be a very offensive contest.

The #6 SMSU Volleyball team (15-5, 10-2 NSIC) went 1-2 this past week beating Minnesota State last Friday
before losing to Concordia on Saturday and USF this past Wednesday. The Mustangs are home this weekend
hosting Bemidji State (5-15, NSIC 1-11) on Friday at the 3rd Annual “Red Out” in the PE Gym at 7 p.m. Saturday,
Southwest will welcome Crookston (11-9, NSIC 6-6) to Marshall with the match starting at 3 p.m.

The SMSU Football team (3-4 NSIC, 1-2 NSIC South) is coming off a home loss to #1 MSU Mankato last Saturday. The Mustangs will travel to Upper Iowa (4-3 NSIC, 1-2 NSIC South) on Saturday with a 6 p.m. kick-off at Harms-Eischeid Stadium in Fayette, IA. Saturday’s match-up will feature two of the top offenses in the NSIC. SMSU has won the last five contests versus the Peacocks with two of those victories coming in Fayette.

The SMSU Women's and Men's Cross Country teams will compete on Saturday in the NSIC Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D hosted by Augustana College. The races will take place at Yankton Trails Park with the women's 6,000-meter race starting at 10:30 a.m., followed by the men's 8,000-meter race at 11:30 a.m.

The women's race will feature 15 teams competing, while 13 teams will run in the men's race. Last year, the SMSU Men’s Cross Country team finished 14th out of fourteen teams, and the Women finished 13th out of thirteen teams at the NSIC Championships.

I would like to wish all of our teams the best of luck this weekend!

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to Karen VanKeulen, who provided the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: Who was the last ranked opponent the SMSU Football team beat, and in what year? In 1994, SMSU defeated MSU Moorhead who at the time was the # 2 NAIA team in the nation.

Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)

In 2008, SMSU defeated Upper Iowa 38-31 on a last second hail mary pass, who was the quarterback that through the pass to win the game?

The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.