SIOUX FALLS - Coming home after securing their first win of the season, University of Sioux Falls Soccer is set to host Minnesota State before heading to Concordia-St. Paul to close the weekend. The Cougars (1-4-1, 1-2-0 NSIC) welcome Minnesota State (2-2-1, 1-1-0 NSIC) to the USF Sports Complex for a 6 p.m. match on Friday, Sept. 23. With the new scheduling format, USF travels to Concordia-St. Paul (0-3-2, 0-0-2 NSIC) for a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday, Sept. 25.
How to follow this weekend's games
- Live video for Friday's game vs. Minnesota State is available HERE
- Live stats for Friday's game vs. Minnesota State are available HERE
- Live Stats for Sunday's game at Concordia-St. Paul are available HERE
Keeping up with the Cougars
Second leg
- The Cougars will host a pair of NSIC North Division opponents the next weekend
- USF welcomes University of Mary on Saturday, Oct. 1 then hosts Minot State on Sunday, Oct. 2
Series Histories
- Sioux Falls is searching for its first win over both of this weekend's opponents
- The Cougars have a 0-4 record against Minnesota State, who was nationally ranked in their previous four meetings with USF
- Senior forward Lola Weiss has USF's only goal against Minnesota State, scoring in the 2014 meeting from distance
- While the scores have been much closer in USF's series with Concordia-St. Paul, the Cougars are 0-4 against CSP
- USF suffered 3-1 defeats in their first three contests against Concordia-St. Paul before dropping a 3-0 decision last year
Scouting the competition: Minnesota State
- Since Sioux Falls joined the NSIC, Minnesota State has won the past four NSIC regular season championships and held a top 25 ranking in the NSCAA Coaches' Poll
- This year, the Mavericks enter with a 2-2-1 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the NSIC
- Through five games, MSU still sports one of the top offenses in the NSIC, ranking fourth in total shots per game (16.40), points per game (5.20) and sixth in goals (9)
- Taylor Kenealy and Morgan Cottew rank top-10 in the NSIC with four and three goals, respectively, this season
- Alexa Rabune has started all five games in goal for MSU, posting 19 saves with a goals against average of 1.27
- Brain Bahl is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Minnesota State women's soccer program and he owns a 59-8-5 record in his tenure
Scouting the competition: Concordia-St. Paul
- Heading into the weekend, Concordia-St. Paul is searching for their first win of the season, owning a 0-3-2 overall record and a 0-0-2 record entering their Friday match at Southwest Minnesota State
- Concordia-St. Paul has scored six goals this season and are averaging the 13th-most shots per game, 10.40
- Katri Gifford has scored a team-leading two goals for CSP this season while four more Golden Bears each have found the back of the net this season
- Emily Nelson and Jordyn Clark have split nearly equal time in goal for CSP with Nelson owning a 0-1-0 record with a 1.01 goals against average and Clark sporting a 0-2-2 mark and a 3.01 GAA
- Steve Bellis is in his sixth season at Concordia-St. Paul, posting a 33-56-6 record at CSP and a 61-106-16 record as a collegiate coach
Cougar offense continuing progress with D'Acunto leading the charge
- After averaging 8.5 shots per game heading into the weekend, USF more than doubled that with 35 scoring efforts over the weekend
- USF recorded a then-season high 17 shots in their 1-0 loss at Northern State before launching a season-best 18 shots against MSU Moorhead
- Senior winger Alexa D'Acunto launched six shots in the two games, including four on goal which led to the game-winning goal
- Over the weekend, five different Cougars recorded five or more shots whereas only four had eclipsed five in first four games of the season
Perkins earns third career shutout, posts solid weekend
- With six saves on Sunday, sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Perkins posted her first shutout of the season, the third of her career
- In two games against MSU Moorhead, Perkins has turned away 22 shots and shutout the Dragons twice in 200 minutes of game time
- Against Northern State on Saturday, Perkins recorded four saves and allowed just one goal
- For the season, Perkins has turned away an NSIC-high 43 shots and has the second-highest saves per game average with 7.17 per contest
- Her 1.30 goals against average and .778 save percentage rank 10th in the NSIC through three conference games
Perkins and Campbell picked as players to watch
- Sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Perkins and freshman forward Carley Campbell were chosen as USF's players to watch in the NSIC preseason release
- Perkins returns as in 2016 after starting all 17 games last season to finish with a 2-14-1 record
- A native of Liberty, Mo., Perkins made 127 saves and posted a 2.59 goals against average in 2015
- Campbell enters her freshman season from Monument, Colo. where she played at Palmer Ridge High School
- She led her high school squad to consecutive state playoff appearances while she scored 10 goals and added 10 assists in her junior and senior seasons
Sioux Falls returns five goal scorers from 2015
- All but one Cougar goal scorer returns for 2016, combining for eight of the team's nine goals last season
- Lola Weiss, Alexandria Scott and Chessa Novotny all found the back of the net twice in 2015
- Alexa D'Acunto and Brooke Jensen each scored once last season, notching the two gamewinners for the Cougars
- Weiss and Jensen ranked 1-2 on the team with 29 and 26 total shots, respectively, while Novotny led with 15 shots on goal
- Jensen and Jackie Montes both logged two assists and Montes was fourth on the team with 20 total shots, behind Novotny's 23.
Goosen continues building process in second season as head coach
- USF Soccer head coach Brittany Goosen enters her second season at the helm of the program
- She owns a 3-16-2 overall record at USF
- Goosen equaled the team's previous win total with a 2-14-1 record in her first season as a head coach
- The Olathe, Kan. native held coaching positions at Missouri-Kansas City as an assistant in 2014 and at Emporia State as a graduate assistant from 2012-13
- Goosen played four years at the University of Nebraska, starting at as a center back from 2007-2011
