Posted: Oct 30, 2020
Game #5
Siena Heights Saints (2-2)
AT
Mount Vernon Nazarene (4-4-2)
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Mount Vernon, Ohio | 1 PM
Upcoming for Saints Soccer: The Saints will look to bounce back after a two-game skid when they travel to face Mount Vernon Nazarene this Saturday.
Broadcast: Saturday's game will be streamed at 1 P.M: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/mvnu/
Head Coach: In his 20 seasons as the head coach of the Siena Heights women's soccer program, Coach Scott Oliver has been able to lead the Saints to four Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) regular-season championships as well as five WHAC tournament titles. In this time, the Saints have also been to the NAIA tournament six times.
Series Notes: This will be the fourth meeting between Siena Heights and Mount Vernon Nazarene. The Saints hold a 2-1 series lead. The first three matchups have all been in Adrian, Michigan.
The last time these two teams met was last season for the SHU home opener. The Cougars left O'Laughlin Stadium with a 1-0 win and handing the Saints an 0-1 record.
Prior to that meeting, Mount Vernon Nazarene and Siena Heights squared off in 2017 and 2007. SHU won those games 2-0 and 4-1 respectively.
Sizing up the Cougars: Mount Vernon Nazarene currently sits sixth in the Crossroads League standings with a 3-3-2 mark. The Cougars have suffered back-to-back shutout losses to ranked opponents. Most recently No. 14 Grace College defeated MVNU 1-0 in a league game on October 28. The Cougars fell 2-0 to No. 2 Marian (Ind.) in Indianapolis on October 17.
As a team, Mount Vernon Nazarene is outscoring opponents 21-9 in the 10 contests the team has played in 2020. The team has tallied 16 assists on the year and have a shot on goal percentage of .558.
Leading the Cougars statistically are led by #22 Alexa Skal who has a team-high 19 points (9g, 1a) on the season. Skal is by far the biggest offensive threat for MVNU. Her nine goals are 42.9% of the 21 total goals for the Cougars, her 19 points are 32.7 % of the teams point total of 58, her 37 shots make up 25.5% of the team total of 145, and her 27 shots on goal is a third (33.3%) of the team total of 81.
Lilly Jakuszewski has started all 10 games in net for the Cougars. Jakuszewski has a 3-3-2 record and a .820 save percentage. She totals 41 saves and has allowed just nine goals while posting three clean sheets.
Making History: With the 1-0 win over Indiana Tech on October 3rd, Siena Heights became the first college women's soccer program in the state of Michigan to reach 450 wins.
Change of Plans: Due to Covid-19, the Saints have had to adapt and because of this, half of their season will be played out in the spring due to many teams in the WHAC deciding to move their entire season to the Spring. The NAIA has also moved all fall championships to the spring 2021 season as well.
Saint Stat Leaders
Points: M. Young - 4 (2g), J. Richmond - 3 (1g,1a)
Goals: M. Young - 2, J. Richmond - 1, A. Kraiza - 1
Assists: E. Broman - 1, J. Richmond - 1, M. Stenzel - 1, A. Strong - 1
Shots: M. Young - 14, H. Moening - 4, A. Strong - 4
SOG: M. Young - 8, J. Richmond - 2, A. Strong - 2
GWG: J. Richmond - 1, M. Young - 1
