For the University of Minnesota Duluth soccer team, the number one was a prevailing theme throughout the 2008 season.
One, as in the first season back in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for UMD, after a four-year stay in the now-defunct North Central Conference. It ended up finishing the season with a 7-11-2 overall record, while going 7-4-2 in conference play - which was good for a fifth place finish in the league standings.
One, as in the number of goals (roughly) that the Bulldogs' defense allowed per game. In reality, they let in 22 goals in 20 matches, which translates into a 1.06 goals against average, the best mark a UMD squad has turned in since 2003, when that team maintained a 0.63 GAA.
One, as in the jersey number of sophomore goaltender Hannah Bengtson, a 2008 newcomer - she joined the Bulldogs after a year with NCAA I Central Michigan University. The Lino Lakes, Minn., native's 78 saves was the fifth-highest single-season total turned in by a UMD goalkeeper in school history. Bengtson led all NSIC net minders in minutes played in regular season action, accruing 1,638:46 of net time.
One, as in the first time head coach Greg Cane and the Bulldogs have not made it out of the first round of the NSIC Soccer Tournament in their eight appearances - UMD lost 2-1 to the University of Mary in the opening round of the 2008 tournament.
And finally, one as in the goal differential in each of UMD's 11 losses on the year. That's right, every time the Bulldogs lost a match in 2008, they did so by a single goal. They also won three games by that same margin, bringing their total one-goal-games count to 14 in 2008, the most in school history (the 2001 team played to 10 one-goal decisions).
"They raise alot of awareness and alertness to individual acountability," said Cane about the number of tough one-goal losses.
"We had a good amount of individual progress by a number of players, and we made good progress as a team," Cane said about the 2008 season.
AWARD-WINNING BULLDOGS: Multiple organizations recognized the outstanding performances turned in by UMD players during the 2008 season. A total of six Bulldogs landed spots on the NSIC All-Conference teams - junior midfielder Clare Dahmen earned first team honors and Hannah Bengtson took home a spot on the second team. Three UMD defenders (seniors Meghan Roth and Stacey Prodaniuk, along with sophomore Maria Leider) were selected to the third team, while junior midfielder Kelly Duchene was tabbed as an All-Conference honorable mention.
Two Bulldogs garnered awards for their hard work in the class room. Junior forward Alex Paffrath and sophomore forward Becky Anderson each earned CoSIDA Academic All-District V honors, with Anderson picking up a nod to the first team, while Paffrath was selected to the third team. Both of the Bulldog attackers have maintained an unblemished 4.0 grade point average in their time at UMD and they are the second and third players in team history to receive such an award.
The defensive aspect of the game obviously came first for Maria Leider, but scoring was also on the Duluth, Minn., native's mind. For her nine points on the year, Leider reigned in one of the four spots reserved for backliners on the Daktronics All-Central Region first team. The award was the first time a Bulldog had earned a spot on the top team, with Clare Dahmen receiving a second team nod in 2006.
Eleven UMD players maintained strong grade point averages and were honored with a spot on the 2008 NSIC All-Academic Soccer Team. Included on the team were seniors Danielle Scheuer and Stacey Prodaniuk, junior Alex Paffrath, Hannah Nygaard, Kelly Duchene and Leah Headrick, and sophomores Becky Anderson, Lauren Graydon, Rachel Krambeer, Maria Leider, and Whitney Wilson. In order to qualify for the team, these student-athletes must have been a member of the varsity traveling team and have a cumulative GPA of 3.20 or better. Also, they must have reached sophomore academic and athletic standing at the institution represented with one full year completed at that particular institution.
CONTRIBUTION FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Scoring came from seemingly just about every player on the field for UMD in 2008. While Clare Dahmen led the charge with 10 points, only three regulars didn't score a point (two of those were defenders) and 10 players had four or more points on the scoring charts. A total of 16 Bulldogs registered on the scoring charts in 2008.
OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS: Seniors Stacey Prodaniuk and Danielle Scheuer, along with junior Clare Dahmen, were given the task of captaining the 2008 Bulldog squad. Prodaniuk was a vocal leader at her sweeper position, while Scheuer and Dahmen took the lead-by-example approach, combining to score five goals and four assists for 14 points. The duo also accounted for four of the Bulldogs' seven game-winning goals on the year.
LOCALS LEADING THE WAY: Tied at the number two spot on the team's offensive charts were Duluthians Becky Anderson and Maria Leider. The Duluth East High School products each tallied nine points (Anderson by way of two goals and five assists, while Lieder did it via four goals and one assist).
SO LONG, FAREWELL: Five fourth-year players made their final appearance in a UMD soccer uniform in the team's opening round NSIC Soccer Tournament loss to Mary on Nov. 5. Juniors Hannah Nygaard and Sammy Case - they were red-shirted their freshman year in 2005 - joined seniors Danielle Scheuer, Meghan Roth and Stacey Prodaniuk in being honored at halftime of UMD's home match against Bemidji State University on October 24.
AS SEEN ON THE INTERNET: A number of Bulldog soccer home matches were video-streamed live over the internet, available at northernsun.tv, throughout the season. UMD was the only NSIC member institution to offer regular season soccer matches through the service in 2008, and will continue to present games free of charge for years to come.
BULLDOG BITS
• After the 7-11-2 overall finish in 2008, head coach Greg Cane now finds himself in uncharted territories. After racking up 10 straight winning season in his first 10 years on the Bulldog bench, Cane has now gone five straight seasons without a winning record (the team did go an even 8-8-3 in 2006, however).
• Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Bengtson was the lone Bulldog to earn a player of the week nod from the NSIC, garnering defensive player of the week honors for the week of Sept. 23 following a two-shutout weekend. Bengtson put up goose eggs on NSIC rivals Minnesota State University, Mankato and Southwest Minnesota State University, both coming on the road, no-less. The blanking of MSU-Mankato was one of only three times the 2008 NSIC Tournament Champions were held scoreless all year.
• The sophomores barely beat out the juniors for the most points scored among each class, with 35. The six third-year players accrued 32 points for the Bulldogs, while the freshmen (defender Reegan Lloyd with seven) and seniors (Danielle Scheuer with four) were represented by just one player.
• Four schools on UMD's 2008 regular season schedule made the field of 48 teams in the 2008 NCAA II Women's Soccer Championships. Although the Bulldogs went 0-3-1 against Augustana College, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Winona State University, and University of Wisconsin-Parkside, they lost the three games by a combined score of 4-1. UMD fought particularly hard against UW-Parkside - a team that made it to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA's before being knocked off this past Saturday - losing on a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game.
