Mavs take down UMary, set to face AU

The last time the Mavericks took on the Marauders, the Minnesota State soccer team took down UMary with ease in a 3-0 victory.

This time was not so easy.

In a very close first round matchup, the Mavericks pulled out the 1-0 win in the first round of the NSIC Tournament, pushing them to travel to Bemidji where they will take on Augustana in the semifinals.

Although the Mavericks scored the game-winning goal, no one was credited with it.

Maille Mathis was the last Maverick to touch the ball when she attempted to cross it over to Jenny Vetter. But Mathis was not the one to put it in the net.

A UMary defender attempted to break up the pass to Vetter in front of the net, but while doing so, ended up putting it in her own net. The credit went to a Minnesota State team goal, but Mathis was the one to put UMary under duress on the play.

MSU Struggled in the first half to produce much offense, only getting five shots off, while only one landed on goal. 

UMary managed to get two shots off with both landing on target, but being denied by Mackenzie Rath.

Minnesota State picked it up in the second half, attempting 16 shots on goal, with four landing on goal.

Rath made one more save in the second half, completing her ninth shutout of the season, and improving her record to 10-1-2.

Rath has also lowered her goals against average to .30, and upped her save percentage to .931, both highest in the conference.

Next up for the Mavericks is Augustana.

Augustana came into the conference as the No. 2 seed in the conference, after winning the tiebreaker over the Mavericks in the head-to-head. 

AU gave Minnesota State their only loss of conference play in a 1-0 contest, also the only loss of Rath’s season.

AU took down St. Cloud State in 2-1 fashion yesterday to earn their spot in the semifinals.

Augustana took an early lead in the match, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first 24 minutes, with SCSU bringing themselves within one in the 81st minute.

St. Cloud State outshot their opponent in the contest, but wouldn’t be enough with their season ending in Sioux Falls.

This is good news for the Mavericks, coming off a game where they outplayed their opponent for most of the contest, despite finding trouble putting the ball in the back of the net.

Bemidji is set to take on Concordia-St. Paul in the other side of the bracket, with the winner of both matches moving on to the finals.

Both Matches are set to take place Friday, with the championship game Sunday in Bemidji.