Women's Soccer 18-game notes -- Nov. 11

November 11, 2009

--The St. Thomas women's soccer team (13-5-1) was awarded one of 21 at-large berths into the 63-team Division III playoffs.

--UST plays Saturday at 7:30 p.m., in Rock Island, Ill., and has a first-round rematch with UW-Stevens Point (15-3-1). That follows a 5 p.m. game between host Augustana (Ill.) (18-1-1) and Albion (Mich.) (9-4-6).

The winners play Sunday at 6 p.m. for the championship, with that victor reaching in the national round of 16.

Click here to view tourney webpage:

http://www.augustana.edu/x17235.xml

--This marks the Tommies' ninth NCAA women’s soccer playoff berth and second in a row. St. Thomas reached the national Final Four in 1987, and in 2002 advanced to the Division III Elite Eight where they lost a two-overtime, 0-0 shootout to eventual national champion Ohio Wesleyan. Last season, the Toms lost a shootout after a 1-1 deadlock with Loras.

--The Tommies are among four MIAC teams and five Minnesota teams in the field. Carleton won the conference playoff and took the automatic berth, while Concordia-Moorhead and Macalester also received Pool C bids. Mac and Concordia join St. Scholastica of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and Dubuque in a four-team weekend tourney hosted by Macalester, while Carleton travels to Chicago for first-round play against Wheaton.

--St. Thomas won the 2008 MIAC championship and placed second behind Concordia this year. Coach Sheila McGill’s team is 27-6-6 over the last two seasons.

--St. Thomas was ranked as high at No. 13 nationally in 2008 and as high as No. 24 this season.

--UST started this season 2-2 while playing without ace forward Erin Sprangers. The Toms then put together an 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1) before it lost three one-goal matches to Concordia and Macalester late in the season.

--The Tommies is 5-0 vs. Wisconsin state university teams, including a 1-0 victory over UW-Stevens Point on Oct. 3. The Tommies also edged the Pointers 3-2 in overtime in October 2008

--UST has recorded nine shutouts and have allowed just 14 goals in 18 games this season. The Toms also had 10 shutouts in regulation last season and 12 goals allowed in 20 games.

--Sophomore Allie Byron is 8-5-1 in goal the last two seasons, while junior Amanda Domeier is 11-1-4 and freshman Callan Faulkner is 4-0.

--The Toms are 7-0-1 in away games and 0-1 on neutral fields in 2009. Last season, they went 9-0-2 on the road and 0-0-1 at neutral sites.

--Ten different players have scored goals for UST in 2009.

--Senior Kirsten Moran has seven goals and 10 assists in 39 games over two seasons with the Tommies.

--Sprangers has 71 points in 71 career games (30 goals, 11 assists), and UST is 24-2 on her career when she scores a goal. The Toms are 24-4-6 when she’s played the last two seasons. The 2008 conference Player of the Year, an All-Region honoree and a two-time all-conference recipient, Sprangers has a 3.70 gpa in Psychology. She’s also a track and field All-American and has contributed to seven MIAC team championships in soccer and track and field.

--Junior forward Regina Horak missed last season with an injury but has made several important goals in her career. All nine of Horak's career goals have been the official game winners, and St. Thomas is 9-0 when she scores a goal.

--Sophomore Cailee Ostermann has just two career goals but both have been huge on the road to win overtime games – against Stevens Point in 2008, and at UW-Eau Claire this season.

--Junior forward Lexie Fisher has five goals and seven assists over the last two seasons.

--Fourteen of the Tommie are Minnesotans with players also from Wisconsin, Iowa, Texas and Colorado.

--Sophomore defender Tess Hanson was named to the ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District V team. She was honored on the second team. She's one of a select group of Tommie studnet-athletes to maintain a 4.00 grade-point average. Hanson has started all 38 games on her career games and helped the Tommies post 27-6-5 record in that span.