THIS WEEK: Minot State returns to Herb Parker Stadium for a four-game homestand starting with NSIC games against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. Games are set for Saturday against UMD and Sunday against SCSU with 1 p.m. start times each day.

RECORDS: Minot State (10-1-1, 8-0-1) tied its first game of the weekend with No. 6 Minnesota State and won its second against Concordia, St. Paul. Minnesota Duluth (4-7-1, 3-5-1) split games last weekend with a win over Wayne State and a loss to No. 20 Augustana. St. Cloud State (6-3-2, 5-2-2) also split their series falling to Augustana and defeating Wayne State.  

COACHES CORNER: Jason Spain is in his sixth 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 52-34-11 record. Last season, Spain led the Beavers to their third 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. Greg Cane has been the head coach for Minnesota Duluth since its debut season in 1994. Since then Cane has led the Bulldogs to a 229-127-34 record with a winning percentage of .631. Prior to joining Minnesota Duluth, Cane was the coach at the College of St. Scholastica for nine season after playing there for three years. Gretta Arvesen is in her second season as the coach of St. Cloud State. With a 6-11-1 record in her first season as a head coach Arvesen has been able to match her wins record just 10 games into the 2015 season. Before joining St. Cloud State she was an assistant coach at Divison I Central Michigan and held responsibilities as Director of Internal Operations and Director of the CMU Soccer Academy.

RANKINGS: Minot State is ranked as the No. 21 team in the country in the October 13 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II poll moving into the rankings for the first time in school history. Neither Minnesota Duluth nor St. Cloud State are ranked.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State remained unbeaten in conference play last week with a tie against No. 6 Minnesota State and a win against Concordia, St. Paul. The Minot State defense remains at the top of the NSIC only allowing six shots on goal over the weekend. The Beavers are the only team in the conference to be under 50 shots on goal allowed with just 34 on net through 12 games.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth has only played on the road three times this year with a 1-1-1 record in those games. The Bulldogs offense is largely effected by their ability to pass as 10 of their 11 goals have come from assists. UMD has been successful in the first have with seven goals compared to just four goals in the second half of its games.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State has been strong defensively as they have shutout five of their opponents, the same mark as Minot State, tied for fourth most in the NSIC. In another area tied with Minot State, Huskies player Maria Kass has four game winning goals in 2015 which matches the same number of game winning goals that MSU leader Ninfa Ramirez has through 12 games.

SERIES HISTORY: The Beavers have seen success playing these two teams with a 2-1 record against Minnesota Duluth and a 3-1 record against St. Cloud State.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State defeated both Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State on the road last year by a combined 5-2 score. Emilie Rebelo (D, Sr., Sacramento, Calif.) scored two of the Beavers three goals against Minnesota Duluth, both on free kicks. Rebelo also assisted the first goal of the game against St. Cloud State.

CHASING RECORDS: Junior transfer Ninfa Ramirez (F, Perris, Calif.) has been hot in her first season scoring in nine of the Beavers 11 games with a total of 10 goals. The Minot State school record for most goals in a season currently sits at 11, which was done twice by Zoe Fisher in both 2011 and 2012. Ramirez also has two assists to move her point total to 22. That mark sits at third best overall currently, one away from tying Fisher's 23 in 2011 and nine from Fisher's 31 in 2012.

DOMINANT DEFENSE: The Beavers defense held both No. 6 Minnesota State and Concordia, St. Paul to their lowest shots on goal this season. Minot State also held the Mavericks to their lowest shot percentage (.048) and lowest shot on goal percentage (.238) of the season. Two defensive players were also responsible for scoring against Minnesota State as Ashley Franco (Fr., Long Beach, Calif.) assisted a header to Kelli Creese (So., La Verne, Calif.)

WHISTLE BLOWERS: The referees have called 120 fouls on Minot State so far this season, which leads the NSIC. That mark is far off of Minnesota Duluth's 60 fouls and St. Cloud State's 51. Both teams coming to Minot are in the bottom three in the conference in fouls. The Beavers have also been carded 10 times so far this season while Minnesota Duluth has yet to receive any and St. Cloud State has been carded twice.

BY THE NUMBERS

5: Assists from Chloe Melton (F, Jr., Fleet, England) so far this season. She is tied for the second most assists in the conference this season and also has scored two goals.

8: Goals allowed from goal keeper Celene Johnson (Sr., Rocklin, Calif.). Johnson has allowed the fourth fewest balls past her in the conference. Johnson has started the past four games after splitting time with Leila Torres (Burlingame, Calif.) earlier this season.

8: Conference wins through nine games this season. The MSU record for most conference wins in a year is 11 which came in 2012. The Beavers have six conference games left.