THE OPENING KICK: The University of Minnesota Duluth squares off against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in a non-conference tilt to begin the 2017 season. The Bulldogs start its 24th year of competition Thursday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at Malosky Stadium.
OPPONENT AT A GLANCE: The Rangers wound up with a 10-6-2 record and concluded the Great Lakes Valley Conference at a 10-4-1 in 2016. The UWP season ended in the first round of their conference tournament. Going into fall, the Rangers lost nearly half of their point production, however, junior forward Lexi Porter remains on the team that led all players with seven goals a season ago.
THE SERIES: The matchup between the Bulldogs and the Rangers will be the fourth meeting between the two squads. Wisconsin-Parkside has a slight 2-1 series edge but UMD picked up the victory last time out in the 2016 season opener.
HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and UWP stacked up in the latest United Soccer Coaches Division II poll and how they were matched up in their conference preseason poll.
TEAM POLL CONF
UMD NR No. 5
UWP NR No. 8
VIDEO/LIVE STATS: The match on Thursday afternoon will carried live through a video stream with live stats and is available for free at:
portal.stretchinternet.com/umd
OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS: A pair of forward seniors, Hailey Hoff and Skye Finley, have been entrenched with the 'C' responsibilities for this fall. Finley served that responsibility last season. The last time UMD had at least two captains was in 2014 when Hannah Keil and Jennifer Smith led the helm.
GET OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT: The beginning of the season has been a mixed bag of results in past years. The past five years the Bulldogs have gone 3-2 in season openers and 2-3 in home openers. For home debuts, UMD has gone 14-7-2 since their inception in 1994.
BEHIND THE CRYSTAL BALL: In the annual NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Bulldogs were tabbed with a sixth place finish. The top distinction went to Minnesota State University-Mankato, which garnered 11 first-place votes and 217 points overall. Augustana University was second with 210 points (five first-place votes) followed by Bemidji State University (188), Minot State University (187), St. Cloud State University (165) then UMD.
ON THE PROWL: Finley and junior defender Erika Hjort were named a few members of the Bulldog club to look out for during the 2017 campaign.
Finley returns as the team's leading scorer from a season ago after spending the early part of her collegiate career defending the backline. The Forest Lake , Minn. native posted career-highs in goals (5), assists (4) and points (14) en route to being named third team All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference selection. Finley, who transferred from St. Cloud State, accounted for 24 percent of the team's offense.
Hjort will continue to anchor the defense that pitched seven shutouts last season. The Bulldogs defense allowed a mere 10.2 shots per game, a club best since the 2010 when they allowed 9.4 per match. The product of Mahtomedi H.S., appeared and started in 17 games logging a team-high 87.8 minutes per match. A two-year starter, Hjort notched her first assist and point against Northern Michigan (Sept. 11) and later her first career goal against Bemidji State (Oct. 30).
THE CANE FILES: Greg Cane is one of the few coaches who can claim to have literally build his or her squad from the ground up. Cane officially became the first head soccer coach in Bulldog history in 1994, and has paced the sideline for each of the team's 427 matches during the program's 23-year existence. During that time, the Duluth native has won at a .612 clip, piling up an overall record of 241-145-41.
The Bulldogs joined the upstart NSIC in 1996 and have claimed the league crown five times (1997, 1998, 2001-03) as well as five conference tournament titles (1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, and 2009) in 17 seasons of NSIC competition Cane has twice led UMD to unblemished conference marks (1997 and 2003) and both times been named the NSIC Coach of the Year in those seasons.
Cane and the Bulldogs claimed its first-ever national ranking in 1999. One year later, UMD set a team record with 17 wins and would be ranked as high as eighth nationally en route to capturing the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. The team matched that win total in 2013 and made its biggest splash in the postseason, hosting the NCAA II Central Region Tournament where they reached the NCAA II Quarterfinals before succumbing to eventual champion Grand Valley State University. UMD would finish seventh in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) poll.
The Bulldogs have been a model of consistency under the guidance of Cane in the upper Midwest. His keen eye for talent and development has harvested 27 different NSCAA/Daktronics All-Central Region players including three All-Americans in Clare Dahmen and Hannah Bengston in 2009 and Maria Leider the following season. Additionally, Cane has manufactured a trio of NSIC Offensive Players of the Year, a pair of NSIC Defensive Players of the Year and a NSIC Newcomer of the Year (Sheridan Reiners) in 2014.
In his nine years with the Saints, Cane rolled up a 106-53-12 mark while winning two National Small Colleges Athletic Association National Championships and five NAIA District 12 titles. Cane later played an integral role in establishing the St. Scholastica women's soccer program in 1990 and posted an overall mark of 15-35-2 as the team's head coach from 1990-93. In September 2013, Cane was inducted into the St. Scholastica Athletic Hall of Fame.
2016 ACCOLADES: Three returning Bulldogs earned All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference citations for their contributions a season ago. Finley was the only third-team choice. Junior defenders Lizzy Fontes and Hjort were pegged honorable mention selections. Each backliner netted their first career goals.
THE 250 WATCH: Cane needs nine more victories to become a member of the 250-win club at UMD. Cane will be on pace to become the 13th coach in any sport to accumulate at least 250 wins at the university. Cane clinched milestone win number 200 on Oct. 20, 2012 versus Northern State. His 256 victories in 27 years ranks him 13th all-time among NCAA II coaches and his .579 career winning percentage ranks him 11th among coaches with 20-plus years of experience.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: UMD has an impeccable 125-50-11 record playing inside the confines of Malosky Stadium (good for a .702 winning percentage). Having played all 23 seasons inside the 4,500-seat venue, the Bulldogs have had only two losing seasons and have capped off three perfect home records, the latest coming in 2009.
"KICKS FOR CAUSES"- LIFE HOUSE EDITION: The UMD soccer team has used their home matchups since its initiation in 2014 as a way to give back to the community by highlighting organizations and charities that student-athletes have chosen to represent.
To start the 2017 campaign, junior defender Lizzy Fontes has selected Life House to be promoted for Thursday's game. Life House, which was incorporated in 1991, is a nonprofit charitable organization assisting homeless and street youth ages 14-24 comprehensive services. Their mission is reconnecting homeless and street youth to their dreams. For more information on Life House, please visit: lifehouseduluth.org/about
UP NEXT: The Bulldogs venture east to Michigan to collide against a duo of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association foes -- Michigan Technological University and Northern Michigan University -- to end the non-conference schedule.
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