MNSU keeps winning through defense, goalkeeping
The MSU Mavericks soccer team are on quite the hot streak and showing off their depth as they come off three shutout victories over Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota State-Moorhead, and Northern State. This marks the sixth win in a row from the Mavericks, all coming as shutouts from three different goalies.
Furthermore, the Mavericks have won nine of their last ten games, all via shutouts. After starting the season with a bit of struggle it seems that MSU has come together to be a dominant group in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
With their victories, the Mavericks are now 10-3-1 overall record and 9-2 in the NSIC.
Minnesota State opened up their three-day road stint at Concordia-St. Paul on Wednesday, October 12th in St. Paul.
There was not very much firepower on either team’s offense throughout the game, and the first half came and went with neither team being able to get on the board. The eventual game winner came in the second half at the 49:27 time mark when Morgan Cottew scored off of an assist from Taylor Kenealy.
Alexa Rabune earned the shutout victory with four saves. Minnesota State outshot Concordia-St. Paul 8-4.
The Mavericks followed up that performance against MSU-Moorhead on Saturday, October 15th in Moorhead.
Two Mav players, Maddy Burandt and Dakota Wendell, made their presence known as they both scored their first goals of the year to secure the win.
Minnesota State got off to a bit of a quicker start this time around, and just over 17 minutes into the game Burandt got the Mavs their first score off an assist from Kenealy and Alesha Duccini. Toward the end of the second half, the Mavericks struck again, this time with an unassisted goal coming from Wendell. It was enough to give MSU-Mankato a 2-0 win over MSU-Moorhead.
Taylor Livermore got the start and shutout win with two saves. The Mavericks dominated in shooting and outshot the Dragons 16-2.
Rounding out the outstanding week for Minnesota State was their third road game against Northern State on Sunday, October 16th, in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
While the previous game could be looked at as a freshman affair, Sunday’s game was a senior-led victory led by an assist and goal from Kiana Nickel.
Just under 24 minutes into the game, Nickel sent one to Cottew who scored to give Minnesota State an early lead. Just over an hour into the game, Nickel returned to the stat sheet when she nailed an unassisted goal to extend the lead to 2-0. Northern State wasn’t able to mount any offense in return and MSU ended the weekend with their third shutout.
The depth Minnesota State has at goalie was shown once again, as this time. Ryann Rydeen got the shutout win with three saves. Minnesota State outshot Northern state 12-3.
The total shutout tally for Maverick goalies now looks like Rabune with five, Rydeen with three, and Livermore with three. Rydeen and Livermore have posted shutouts in each of their starts.
The Mavericks will return home this weekend for more NSIC action when they play Minot State University on Saturday at 1 p.m., and University of Mary on Sunday, October 23, at 1 p.m. both at The Pitch.