WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary’s University men’s soccer team, coming off their final nonconference game of the season — a 1-0 victory at UW-Platteville Sunday — plays host to Augsburg in the final home game of the season Tuesday.
Records:
Saint Mary’s Cardinals (1-6-1 MIAC / 6-8-2 Overall)
Augsburg Auggies (2-6-0 MIAC / 7-7-1 Overall)
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Last Action: The Cardinals’ Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.) scored the game-winning goal for the second straight day as SMU closed out its nonconference schedule with a 1-0 victory over UW-Platteville in Platteville, Wis., Sunday. Augsburg, meanwhile, has been off since Friday, when Ryan Sorensen scored the game’s only goal in the 83rd minute to lead the Auggies to a 1-0 conference win over Hamline in Minneapolis, Minn.
Last Meeting: October 4, 2008: After a scoreless first half, the Auggies delivered the knockout punch — making that five of them — as Augsburg scored on its first two shots of the second half and never looked back in handing the Cardinals a 5-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback in Minneapolis, Minn.
SMU Cardinal Notes: After snapping a pair of streaks with Saturday’s win at Saint John’s — a seven-game conference winless streak (0-6-1) and an eight-game losing streak against the Johnnies — the Cardinals put together their second two-game winning streak of the season with Sunday’s win over UW-Platteville. … The Cardinals have held their opponents without a goal in both two-game winning streaks this season. … Saturday’s win was also the Cardinals’ first at Saint John’s since Oct. 31, 1992. … SMU GK Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) picked up back-to-back shutouts over the weekend — stopping eight shots vs. Saint John’s and seven more against UW-Platteville. … After recording four shutouts in his first three seasons combined, Szafranski’s seven-save effort vs. UW-Platteville was his fifth of the season. … Szafranski, who also recorded his first collegiate assist vs. SJU Saturday, enters today’s game vs. Augsburg with a 1.45 goals-against-average and an .844 save percentage. He has stopped 119 shots this season, pushing his school-record career saves total to 424. … After scoring just once in SMU’s first 14 games, Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.) has scored the game-winner in each of the Cardinals’ last two games. … Sunday’s goal moved Venter into a tie for the team lead in goals (3) with Steve Boussie (Troy, Mich.) and Ryan Rademacher (La Crosse Wis.). Boussie also leads the Cardinals in assists (3) and points (9). … SMU has now played four overtime games this season. The Cardinals are 4-0-4 in their last eight overtime games and have not lost an OT game since a 3-2 setback vs. Macalester on Sept. 22, 2006. … Both of the Cardinals’ ties this season have come on their home field — and both have been 1-1 decisions.
Augsburg Auggie Notes: Friday’s win over the Pipers was the second straight for the Auggies, who had snapped a season-high seven-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over St. Scholastica on Oct. 20. … Eleven of Augsburg’s 15 games have been decided by one goal or less — including six of the Auggies’ seven losses. … Six of Augsburg’s seven wins have come on its home field. The Auggies are just 1-3-0 away from home. … The Auggies have played three overtime games this season, going 1-1-1 with a 1-0 win over UM-Morris, a 1-0 loss to St. Thomas and a 0-0 tie vs. Wartburg. … Ahmed Gobana leads the team in both goals (5) and points (10), while Matt Bowman and David Scheller share the team lead in assists with three each. … GKs Pascaul Venter — older brother to SMU’s Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.) — and Jeff Webster have combined for a 0.90 goals-against-average and an .808 save percentage. Venter also baosts a team-leading four shutouts among his 10 starts. … The Auggies have scored 12 of their 18 goals in the second half.