Weekly Soccer Notes | Live stats (MSU-Moorhead) / (Northern State) | Live video (MSU-Moorhead) / (Northern State)

Tweet #WeAreWU

 Opening Notes
• The Washburn Ichabod soccer team will kickoff the 12th season of action when they open the season in Moorhead, Minn., when they will face the Dragons on Sept. 5.
• Following the game with the Dragons, Washburn will face Northern State on Sept. 7. 
• Washburn is coming off a 9-9-2 season in 2013 after reaching the semifinals of the MIAA postseason tournament.
• The Ichabods were picked fifth in the MIAA preseason coaches poll.
• Washburn is 4-6-1 in its first game of the season.

 Story Lines
• The Ichabods will have one of their largest senior classes in the program's history as nine Washburn student-athletes will play their final season in the blue and white.
• Four of the seniors (Tori Fuglister, Valerie Harms, Jenna Cunningham and Whitney Skinner) have been part of the program for  four years.
• Washburn's roster has 30 players on it for the 2014 season. It is the largest roster the Ichabods have had in the program's history.
 About the Ichabods
• The Washburn Ichabod soccer team will have 13 freshmen on the roster this season.
• With eight sophomores and three redshirt freshmen the Ichabods will have 24 of their 30 players listed as underclassmen.
• Washburn was 2-4 in matches last season in matches which were decided by one goal.
• Washburn was 4-6-3 in matches decided by two goals or left.

 Noting MSU-Moorhead
• The Dragons were 0-17-0 in 2013 going 0-15-0 in NSIC play.
• The Ichabods and the Dragons have not met on the pitch since the 2005 season when the Ichabods won 1-0 on Aug. 27 in a match played in Crookston, Minn.
• Rollie Bulock is in his 14th season as the  Dragons' head coach and has gone 91-170-14.

 Last meeting with the Dragons
(Aug. 27, 2005) CROOKSTON, Minn. -- The Washburn soccer team won its season opener 1-0 over Minnesota State-Moorhead. Jessica Mainz scored Washburn's only goal with 15:03 left in the match. Washburn had 22 shots (10 on goal), while holding MSU-Moorhead to just two shots (one on goal).

 Noting Northern State
• Northern State was 8-8-2 last season while going 5-8-2 in the NSIC and was picked 10th in the league's preseason poll.
• The Wolves lead the all-time series with Washburn 1-0 winning 1-0 in the season opener in 2013.

 Last meeting with the Wolves
(Sept. 6, 2013) The Washburn Ichabod soccer team dropped their season open 1-0 falling to Northern State on Friday night in Yager Stadium. 
Washburn outshot the Wolves 12 to 6 in the match, but could not overcome a goal by Anna Bondy in the 23rd minute staking Northern State to a 1-0 lead.
The Ichabods also had seven shots on goal compared to three for the Wolves in the match and had four corner kicks compared to one for the Wolves.
Danielle Curtis led the Ichabods with four shots with two coming on goal. Olivia Stovall had both of her shots go on goal. Tori Fuglister had two saves in the match facing six shots in net for the Ichabods. Northern State's Brittany Tietz picked up the shutout in goal for the Wolves.

 Washburn season preview
Despite losing nine seniors and returning a roster for the 2014 season of 23 underclassmen, the Ichabods are looking to build on last season's run to the MIAA Tournament semifinals improving on its nine-win season in 2013.
"We might not have the experience in numbers of juniors and seniors, but our sophomore class along with the experience of our juniors and seniors will make us a dangerous team this year," head coach Tim Collins said.

Forwards 
Leading the Ichabods up front will be junior Bailey Wobig and  senior Whitney Skinner. Wobig tied for the team lead with four goals while picking up two assists and a match-winning goal. Skinner added two goals of her own with an assist. Both players started six matches last season.
Sophomore Olivia Stovall returns after missing the final 11 matches of the season with a knee injury. In her limited playing time, she recorded one goal and two assists playing in nine matches.
Incoming freshmen Sarah Taylor and Maddie Adams will also compete for playing time after successful club and high school careers.

Midfielders 
The Ichabods have 14 midfielders listed on the 2014 roster and of those only senior Valerie Harms and junior Sara Specht are upperclassmen. However there are four sophomores in the mix as Kate Combs, Cadence Bourne, Lexi Barton and Devon Schmitz all return this season. Redshirt freshmen Rianin Bowser and Kelly Schunk also are coming back after injuries shortened their seasons.
Combs is the leading scorer out of the group with three goals and four assists, which were second on the team a year ago. Combs earned third team all-MIAA honors starting 18 games missing the final two with a knee injury. Bourne had three assists while starting 16 matches. Schmitz scored two goals adding an assist while playing in 13 matches overall with six starts. Harms appeared in 19 matches while Specht played in 18 overall while Barton recorded an assist seeing action in 13 matches. 
Redshirt freshman Randi Watson is moving from goalkeeper to the midfield while freshmen Presely Wiggins, Mackenzie Heiman, Emily Stauffer, Tori Devonshire and Morgan El-Attrache will all compete for time this season. 

Defenders 
The Ichabods have six players listed as defenders on the 2014 roster with five of those seeing action last season. They are led by honorable mention all-MIAA pick sophomore Hailey Ruder and senior Jenna Cunningham. Ruder started 17 of 20 matches last season while Cunningham saw action in 11 matches overall. Also returning are sophomores Sophia Sabala and Michelle Keleher who will be looking for action after playing in 11 and 16 matches respectively last season.

Goalkeepers 
Washburn returns honorable mention an all-MIAA honorable mention pick in senior Tori Fuglister who recorded seven shutouts in 2013 with a 1.02 goal against average. She played all 1,859 minutes in goal for the Ichabods. Washburn has three incoming freshmen goalkeepers who will also compete for playing time in Kaitlin Minnich, Jordan Thiem and Julia Edelstein.

Season Outlook
"We play in the toughest conference in America so each match is a battle," Collins said.
Overall, the Ichabods will have eight of their games at home with 10 on the road. Of the eight, five will come during a stretch between Oct. 17 and Oct. 31 when they will face Missouri Southern, Southwest Baptist, Fort Hays State, Nebraska-Kearney and Emporia State on Senior Night on Halloween.
This year, the MIAA schedule includes three four-school pods. Washburn's pod includes Nebraska-Kearney, Emporia State and Fort Hays State and Washburn will play a home-and-home with those three. The other eight matches against MIAA foes will be a single game this season.
Washburn will open the regular season at Minnesota State-Moorhead on Sept. 5 and at Northern State on Sept. 7. The Ichabods will have only one non-conference home match which will be against Rockhurst on Sept. 9. The Ichabods' other non-conference match up will be at Newman on Sept. 17 in Wichita.
The MIAA Tournament begins on Nov. 4 and will have the semifinals on Nov. 7 and the championship match on Nov. 9 in Olathe, Kan.
The NCAA tournament starts on Nov. 14 and will run until the national championship match on Dec. 6.
"Our MIAA slate will put us in a position to be successful in the NCAA Tournament," Collins said. "But the pressure is on us to do well in our regular season - both the regional contests and the conference matches - so we can have the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament."

 Washburn soccer history
• Washburn is 90-97-31 (.484) all-time in its 11th season of action. 
• In MIAA play, the Ichabods are 58-59-20 (.512). 
• In home matches, the Ichabods are 46-35-15 (.557).
• On the road, the Ichabods are 37-54-12 (.416).
• In matches on neutral sites, the Ichabods are 7-8-4 (.474). 

 Washburn record watch
• Senior goalkeeper Tori Fuglister needs 48 saves to move into second place all-time at Washburn and 88 saves to move into first all-time. She has 231 career saves entering the season.
• Fuglister has played in 48 matches at Washburn and she needs 15 matches played to move into first on the all-time goalie chart.

 Up next
The Ichabods will return home to Yager Stadium to face Rockhurst on Sept. 9.