This week
Augustana (5-3-0, 2-1-0 NSIC) welcomes Winona State (5-2-1, 3-0-0 NSIC) Saturday at 11 a.m. and Upper Iowa (2-5-0, 0-3-0 NSIC) Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at Morstad Field.
Series records
Augustana has had seven meetings in its series with Winona State, and the Vikings have yet to win a game. In 2010, the Warriors fired a goal 10 minutes into overtime to clinch a 1-0 victory over Augustana (all-time series records vs. Winona State). The Vikings first faced Upper Iowa in 2007 and trail the series 1-2-1. Augustana suffered a 2-1 double-overtime loss to the Peacocks last season when Emily Gielau found the back of the net off a free kick at 106:35 (all-time series records vs. Upper Iowa).
Last time out
Augustana went undefeated last weekend with a pair of 1-0 victories over Minot State and Wayne State.
King of the field
Raelyn Walczak set up Aleisha Oehlerking just perfectly to kick the ball past Minot State's Ashley Barczewski with just more than four minutes left of action left in the game, lifting the Vikings to a 1-0 victory. The goal was Oehlerking's second this season.
Layin' the Mac down
Mackenzie Trom continues to be a dominant force on the field for Augustana as she scored her fourth goal of the season last Sunday to lead Augustana to a 1-0 victory over Wayne State. It's her second game-winning goal of the season.
Scouting the opponents
Winona State has an undefeated conference record so far this season with wins against Upper Iowa (2-0), Minnesota Duluth (1-0) and Bemidji State (1-0). Upper Iowa has yet to defeat an NSIC opponent with losses to Wayne State (0-2), BSU (0-1 OT) and UMD (2-4).
Ranked
Augustana moved back into the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Central Region rankings on Tuesday, checking in at No. 7 after falling out of the poll last week. The Vikings first entered into the rankings on Sept. 14 at No. 10. Fort Lewis (Colo.) (8-0-1) is the top team in the poll. Conference opponents Minnesota State (No. 4), Winona State (No. 5), U-Mary (No. 8) and Southwest Minnesota State (No. 10) are also ranked.
NSIC honors
The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced Sept. 12 that Augustana goalkeeper Amanda Wagner was its Defensive Player of the Week for her pair of performances against Minnesota, Crookston and Nebraska-Kearney. Wagner made nine saves and allowed just one goal to help Augustana earn a pair of victories. She made three saves in the Vikings' shutout of UMC and had six saves against UNK, helping the Vikings to their first win of the season. Wagner's save in the 85th minute of action against UNK helped the Vikings keep their lead for a 2-1 victory over the Lopers.
On the roster
Augustana's 2011 roster is its largest in program history with 32 athletes. Out of the 20 players returning for the Vikings, Jessie Huff and Kate Timmons were selected by the NSIC coaches as Offensive and Defensive Preseason Players to Watch, respectively.
The coach
Brandon Barkus is in his sixth season as the head women's soccer coach at Augustana. In addition to his head coaching duties, Barkus is an instructor in the Augustana HPER department, coaches the Dakota Alliance girls' soccer team and serves the South Dakota Youth Soccer Association. Barkus has compiled a career record of 46-46-12 since his appointment as head coach. The Vikings compiled an overall record of 8-9-2 in 2010, including a 7-5-1 mark and a tie for fifth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
According to the coaches
Augustana was selected fourth with 122 points by the league coaches in the 2011 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Poll.
| Rank |
School |
Pts.
|
| 1 |
Winona State (12) |
168 |
| 2 |
Minnesota Duluth (1) |
146 |
| 3 |
Minnesota State (1) |
141 |
| 4 |
Augustana |
122 |
| 5 |
U-Mary |
115 |
| 6 |
Bemidji State |
111 |
| 7 |
St. Cloud State |
102 |
| 8 |
Upper Iowa |
92 |
| 9 |
Wayne State |
80 |
| 10 |
Northern State |
62 |
| 11 |
Concordia-St. Paul |
53 |
| 12 |
Minnesota, Crookston |
31 |
| 13 |
Minnesota State Moorhead |
29 |
| 14 |
Southwest Minnesota State |
22 |
| |
first-place votes in () |
|
History lesson
Viking soccer enters its 12th year of competition in 2011. Augustana owns an all-time record of 70-131-15 with one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008.
Captains
Brandon Barkus has announced that senior midfielder Stacy Dally, junior midfielder Jessica Perez and senior defender Kate Timmons are captains of this year's squad. This marks Timmons second season as captain of the Vikings.
Stay connected
Follow Augustana all season long at www.GoAugie.com. The Vikings are also on Facebook and Twitter; just log onto www.facebook.com/GoAugie and www.twitter.com/GoAugie. To catch even more Viking action log onto Augustana's official YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/GoAugie.
Next time
The Vikings will return home to face Winona State and Upper Iowa on Oct. 1 and 2.
