SMSU Athletics

November 14, 2013 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Yesterday was the first day prospective student-athletes could sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to attend SMSU to continue their academic and athletic careers. During the fall early signing period, women’s and men’s basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and women’s golf, wrestling and tennis all have the opportunity to send out NLIs to prospective student-athletes to receive their commitment.

The early signing period started yesterday, November 13 and runs through November 20. It is an exciting time of year when our coaching staffs are able see all their hard work recruiting pay off. We would like to welcome all the prospective student-athletes (and their families) who signed NLI yesterday to the Mustang Family. For all the latest signings and information on the SMSU Department of Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week in SMSU Athletics

The SMSU Soccer team received an at-large bid for this year’s NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. SMSU will travel to the #1 seed MSU Mankato on Friday playing Central Missouri State at 1:00 p.m., who is the No. 5 seed.

The Mustangs will be making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in the program's 18-year history. The Jennies also enter the tournament with a record of 14-3-2. The winner of the SMSU/UCM game will face No. 1 seed Minnesota State (17-2-2) on Sunday, November 17, in Mankato, starting at 1:00 p.m.

On the other side of the Central Region bracket, No. 6 seed Southwest Baptist (14-5-1) faces No. 3 seed Winona State (15-3-2) also on Friday. The winner takes on No. 2 seed Minnesota Duluth (15-3) on Sunday. Both games will take place in Duluth, MN.

The third round and national quarterfinals will take place on November 22 and November 24 at a site to be determined. The semifinals and national championship will be held December 5-7 in Evans, GA.

Congratulations to SMSU Head Soccer Coach, TJ Buchholz, who has been named 2013 NSIC Coach of the Year last week in an announcement by the NSIC. Congratulations are also in order for freshman goalkeeper Brienna Dehkes who was named NSIC Goalkeeper of the Year, and six of her teammates who were named to the 2013 NSIC All-Conference team.

Miranda Cadena and Dehkes were named to the All-NSIC first team, while Autumn Hayes, Kendahl Fisher, and Megan Kilroy were named to the All-NSIC second team. Danica Requejo was named to the All-NSIC honorable mention team. We wish the Mustang Women’s Soccer team the best of luck this Friday as they battle the UMC Jennies in the first round of the NCAA Division II Soccer Tournament!

The #8 SMSU Volleyball team (21-6, 15-3 NSIC) won a very important conference and regional contest on Tuesday night beating Augustana College in four sets. The Mustangs will head to MSU Moorhead on Friday to battle the Dragons at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, SMSU will head to Aberdeen, SD, to take on #20 NSU in the final contest of the regular season. The results of this weekend’s games will have a major impact on the NCAA Division II Central Region Rankings.

Congratulations to senior Rachel Westby, along with sophomores Emilee Gutzmer, Claire Sames and Abbey Thissen who were all named to the 2013 NSIC Volleyball All-NSIC first team last announced last Thursday by the conference office. A big thank you to Rachael Westby for her four years of dedication and hard work in the classroom and on the volleyball court. Your efforts will truly be missed by your coaches, teammates, SMSU and the entire Marshall Community.

The SMSU Football team (6-4 NSIC, 4-2 NSIC South) will conclude the regular season this Saturday in Sioux Falls, SD, as they face Augustana College (4-6 NSIC, 2-4 NSIC South) at Kirkeby-Over Stadium at 1:00 p.m. Congratulations to Coach Sauter, his staff and the Mustang Football program for bringing us the first winning season since 2008 and just the ninth in program history. SMSU has a chance to participate in post-season play with a win on Saturday.

The 48th Mineral Water Bowl will be held on December 7 in Excelsior Springs, MO. The Mustangs will need to end the season as the highest ranked team in the final NSIC standings, not to qualify for the six-team NCAA Super Region 3 playoffs to represent the NSIC in the bowl game. SMSU would face a team from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA).

The SMSU Women's and Men's Cross Country teams’ competed last weekend at the NCAA Central Region Championships in Sioux Falls, SD, hosted by Augustana College. Trent Smith crossed the finish line first for the Mustang Men in 69th place to lead SMSU to a 20th place finish last Saturday. Amanda Grengs crossed first on the women's side with a time of 24:00 good for a 122nd finish. The women finished 29th in the 30-team field.

The women collected a total time of 2:08:03 for 829 points. The men collected a total time of 2:58:21 for 558 points. This competition concludes the cross country season with many of our runners transitioning right to the winter indoor track and field season.

The SMSU Men’s Basketball team will opened the season this past weekend going 1-1 against a pair of MIAA, Central Region opponents. The Mustangs lost game one of the SMSU Classic last Saturday 72-89 to Fort Hays State. On Sunday, SMSU beat Northwest Missouri State 72-50. The Mustang Men’s Basketball team will be on the road next Monday in Brookings, SD, to play South Dakota State University at 7:00 p.m. in Frost Arena.

The SMSU Wrestling team opened up the 2013-14 dual season last night competing against Concordia-Moorhead at 7:00 p.m. in the PE Gym. SMSU is coming off a season in which the Mustangs went 13-6 and 3-5 in the NSIC. In 2012-13, the Mustangs sent four individuals to the NCAA national championships and all are back for the 2013-14 season -- Justin Reinsma (133), Jacob Begin (165), Kyle Begin (174) and Travis Peralta (184). Jesse Nelson enters his seventh season at the helm of the Mustang wrestling program (38-40-1).

The SMSU Women’s Basketball team opened up their 2013-14 campaign with a 101-43 victory over Crown College on Monday evening. The Mustangs were led by Alison Nagel who scored a career-high 28 points in the contest. This was the ninth time in school history SMSU has been over the hundred point mark.

Southwest left for California yesterday to play a couple of non-conference match-ups on the west coast. SMSU will face Notre de Namur (CA) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. central time. The Mustangs will finish-up the road trip against Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. central time.

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

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to Rick Haberman, who provided the correct answer (at the same time) to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: Who was the last Mustang Volleyball player to be inducted into the SMSU Hall of Honor? Jenai Hutchinson Wright was inducted into the SMSU Hall of Honor in 2011 and played both volleyball (1989-92) and basketball (1989-93) for the Mustangs.

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

The SMSU Women’s Basketball team scored 101 points against Crown College on Monday night. In 2008, the Mustangs scored 100+ points in four games that season. Can you name the four teams?

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