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Teams: Minot State vs. Minnesota State | Series: Minnesota State leads series 3-0-1
Date: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014 | Time: 11 a.m. | Site: Herb Parker Stadium
Teams: Minot State vs. Concordia-St. Paul | Series: Minot State leads series 2-0
Date: Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014 | Time: 1 p.m. | Site: Herb Parker Stadium

MATCH-UPS: Minot State will be tested Saturday morning as they welcome the No. 2 ranked Minnesota State Mavericks to Herb Parker Stadium. A perfect 10-0-0 on the season, the Mavericks' shots on goal margin with their opponents is 114-19. The Beavers average the forth fewest goals allowed in the conference with just 0.80 goals conceded per game, so something has to give Saturday morning. In the second game of the weekend, the Beavers will play a crucial game against Concordia-St. Paul, which has the same record in the NSIC as Minot State. The Golden Bears score the third fewest amount of goals in the Northern Sun and that bodes well for the Beavers who are driven by their back-four.

RECORDS: Minot State enters the week of Oct. 6 with a 4-4-2 overall record and a 3-3-1 record in the NSIC. The Beavers are currently on a two-game losing skid after their road-trip this weekend. Minnesota State begins the week of Oct. 6 with a perfect 10-0-0 record in 2014. The Mavericks are 7-0-0 in the Northern Sun. Concordia-St. Paul has the same conference record as Minot State 3-3-1 but their overall record is slightly worse as they come into the week 3-5-1.

COACHES CORNER: Jason Spain is in his fifth season as head coach of the women's soccer program at Minot State. Spain has done impressive work in his four seasons with the team, sporting a highly successful 42-27-9 record. Last season, Spain led the Beavers to their second consecutive birth in the NSIC postseason tournament. In 2012, the Beavers won the NSIC tournament and claimed the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II tournament. Brian Bahl is in his second season at the helm with Minnesota State University. The Mavericks compiled an impressive 17-3-2 overall record in 2013 as Bahl was named the Central Region coach of the year. Six players were selected All-NSIC under Bahl in 2013. 2014 marks the fourth season Steve Bellis leads the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on the pitch. Bellis has an overall record of 20-32-1 in his first three years with the program. Prior to joining Concordia, Bellis coached at NCAA Division III St. Kate's.

RANKINGS: In the National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll released on Oct. 7, Minnesota State University came in ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation behind the College of Saint Rose. Minot State and Concordia-St. Paul did not receive votes for the top 25 rankings.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State came into the week of Sept. 29 ranked as the No. 8 team in the Central Region, but the Beavers did not live up to expectations as they dropped both of their games this past weekend. On Friday, Oct. 3, the Beavers travelled to Winona State where they dropped a close game 1-0. Despite hitting the crossbar twice in the contest, Winona State prevailed improving to 5-1 in the NSIC. The Beavers looked to salvage their weekend and come home with a split when they travelled to Upper Iowa on Sunday, Oct. 5, but the team was unable to do so. After heading into halftime with a 1-0 lead on a goal scored by Taylor Bachman-Williams (Sr., D, Minot, N.D.), the Beavers conceded two second half goals and dropped the game by a final score of 2-1. Despite the team's struggles this past weekend, the Beavers still rank No. 4 in the NSIC in goals allowed per game.

NOTING THE MAVERICKS: Minnesota State has experienced nothing but success in the 2014 season thus far. In 10 games played this season, the Mavericks are outscoring their opponents 30-2. This past weekend the Mavericks began with a 4-0 win against Minnesota State-Moorhead. The Mavericks put the game away early with three first half goals as they went on to dominate the run of play outshooting Moorhead 40-3. The following day, the Mavericks defeated Northern State by a close score line of 1-0, but the game proved to be dominated by Minnesota State despite the score. The Mavericks conceded just one shot, not a frame, and ended the match with 32 shots for themselves. Minnesota State is led by Kory Kronforst, who has nine goals on the season, which is tied for most in the Northern Sun.

NOTING THE GOLDEN BEARS: Concordia-St. Paul is coming off an up-and-down weekend as they head into a couple of weekend road games at Minot State and U-Mary. In the Golden Bears first game of last weekend, they dropped a 2-0 match to Northern State. The following day, Concordia salvaged their weekend and came back with a 3-2 win against Minnesota State-Moorhead. The Golden Beavers came from behind after giving up the first two goals of the match and scored three straight goals of their own.

SERIES HISTORY: In four meetings between Minot State and Minnesota State, the Mavericks have walked away with points in all four going 3-0-1. In the most recent meeting, the Beavers fell 1-0 a season ago. On the contrary, Minot State has had success against Concordia-St. Paul holding a 2-0 series lead. The Beavers defeated the Golden Bears 2-1 last season.

LEADING THE WAY: Minot State's Taylor Bachman-Williams (Sr., D, Minot, N.D.) scored her team-high third goal of the season in the Beavers' 2-1 loss to Upper Iowa despite being a starter on the back line for the Beavers. The Minot, N.D. native has played the second most minutes on the team, recording 908 minutes on the field.

BETWEEN THE POSTS: While Celene Johnson (Jr., GK, Rocklin, Calif.) conceded three goals this past weekend, the junior goalkeeper came up with 18 huge saves to keep the Beavers close in their two defeats. Johnson leads all NSIC goalkeepers with a .909 save percentage and comes in as the No. 2 keeper in goals allowed and saves per game.

BY THE NUMBERS
7: Despite scoring just 10 goals this season, Minot State is still ranked No. 7 in shots taken in the NSIC. The Beavers average 12.9 shots per game.

8: While the Beavers have played 10 games this season, they've conceded just eight goals in those 10 contests, good for fourth in goals allowed in the Northern Sun.

13: The Beavers are once again proving to be one of the most aggressive teams in the NSIC as they've been cautioned by the referee a league-leading 13 times. Minot State also averages the most fouls per game recording 12.5 a contest.