SMSU Athletics

November 13, 2014 – Hoof Prints Article
 
Hello Mustang Fans!
 
Winter is upon us. The fall sports regular season will come to a close this weekend with Mustang Football’s final game, and two SMSU teams are in post-season competition. It is another busy weekend for the SMSU Department of Athletics with a number of teams competing at home and on the road.
 
For all your information on Mustang Athletics, go to SMSUmustangs.com
 
This Week in SMSU Athletics
SMSU Women’s Soccer team (10-8-1, 9-6-1 NSIC) ended their season last Wednesday with an NSIC Tournament loss to Winona State 0-1 in Winona, MN. It was a successful season for the Mustangs posting a winning season for the third time in program history with two of the three winning seasons coming in the last two years. Thank you to Coach Buchholz and our SMSU Women’s Soccer team for their hard work and dedication this season! 
 
The #5 SMSU Volleyball team (21-8, 15-5 NSIC) won three straight sets over Winona State on Tuesday to advance to the semi-final round of the NSIC/US Bank Tournament. The Mustangs will travel to UMD on Friday to play the host team and the #1 seed in the tournament UMD (29-1, 20-0 NSIC) at 7:30 pm in Romano Gymnasium.
 
Last week, the NSIC announced the 2014 NSIC Volleyball All-Conference selections and players of the year. Congratulations to SMSU redshirt freshman Eisha Oden who was named NSIC Freshman of the Year. The Mustangs had four players named to the 2014 NSIC All-Conference team. Abbey Thissen was named to the All-NSIC first team, while Kenzie Beekman, Eisha Oden and Sarah Parker were named to the All-NSIC second team.
 
The Mustang Football team (3-7, 2-4 South Division) is coming off a big win on the road against Winona State beating the Warriors 39-34. The win for Southwest was the first win against Winona State in Winona, MN, since 1992. SMSU will be home this weekend for their final football game of the season taking on Augustana College (5-5, 2-4 South Division) at 1:00 pm in the Schwan Regional Event Center.  
 
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s Cross Country teams ran this past weekend in the NSIC Conference Championships held at the Wayne Country Club in Wayne, NE. The SMSU Men's Cross Country team recorded 266 points and finished ninth out of 12 teams, while the SMSU Women's team earned an 11th place finish out of 15 teams with 294 points.
  
Alejandro Sanchez led the Mustangs with a 21st place finish with a time of 26:24. Blake Wooten crossed the finish line with a time of 27:36 to earn a 64th place finish, while Alex Bloomquist recorded a time of 27:47 to cross in 71st place.
 
Leading the Mustang women was freshman Savannah Ramirez, who crossed the finish line in 37th place with a time of 23:12. Paige Yi and Tatum Larson finished second and third for the Mustangs crossing the finish line in 73rd and 74th place respectively with times of 24:45 and 24:46. SMSU will have two weeks off before competing at the NCAA Region Championships also held at Wayne Country Club on November 22.
 
The SMSU Men’s Basketball team will open up their regular season with a couple of Central Region games versus teams out of the Great American Conference in the GAC/NSIC Challenge played at Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville, OK. The Mustang will play East Central University (OK) at 7:30 pm  on Friday before taking on Arkansas Tech on Saturday with tip-off set for 2:00 pm. SMSU went 1-2 in exhibition play beating the SMSU Alumni 67-60 before losing to the University of Nebraska 61-83 and St. Olaf 88-91 in two overtimes.
 
The SMSU Women’s Basketball team will open up their regular season at home this weekend. The Mustangs will welcome Metro State (CO) to the R/A Facility on Saturday with game time scheduled for 4:00 pm. SMSU will turn around on Sunday and host Pittsburg State (KS) at 2:00 pm. Southwest went 1-1 in exhibition play beating St. Kate’s 93-83 while losing to the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee 48-87.
 
The SMSU Wrestling team opens up their season this week as they travel to Mitchell, SD, for the Dakota Wesleyan Open with a 9:00 am start time. The Mustangs are coming off a 12-5 overall record in 2013-14 going 6-2 in the NSIC.
The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team is back in action this Saturday and Sunday competing in the Lincoln Tournament in Lincoln, NE. The Mustangs are 3-3 heading into this weekend’s competition. Southwest will play Madonna at 10:00 am and 2:30 pm and the Rolling Timberwolves at 1:00 pm on Saturday. On Sunday, SMSU will compete against the Timberwolves at 11:30 am and Madonna at 1:00 pm.
I would like to wish all of our teams the best of luck this week!
 
Go Mustangs!
 
No one was able to provide the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question: When was the last time an SMSU Athletic team has faced a nationally ranked DI team in competition? On November 25, 2003, the SMSU Wrestling team competed against the University of Iowa in Blue Earth, MN. The Hawkeyes were ranked #3 in the country and had three wrestlers on the squad from Blue Earth High School.
 
Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)
 
When was the last time the SMSU Volleyball team beat the University of Minnesota, Duluth?
 
The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.