THIS WEEK: Minot State finishes off a four-match homestand with a key game against Augustana University Saturday and the weekend finale Sunday with Wayne State College.

RECORDS: Minot State (11-2-1, 9-1-1) lost its first conference game in the second game of the weekend last week against St. Cloud State and won its first game against Minnesota Duluth. Augustana (11-2-1, 9-1-1) split its games last week with a win over Concordia, St. Paul and a loss against Minnesota State. Wayne State (2-9-3, 2-8-1) also was able to defeat Concordia and unable to defeat Minnesota 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. Brandon Barkus is in his 10th season as the head coach of Augustana. The 2014 NSIC Coach of the Year was able to reach a school record 14 wins last season as he led his team to their second NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to joining Augustana Barkus was the goalkeeper coach at the University of Minnesota and coached his goalkeeper to All-Big Ten Conference first team honors. Before his stint at Minnesota he was the head coach at Baker University and has compiled an overall record of 109-98-17 as a head coach. Bruse Erickson is in his first season as the head coach for Wayne State. Erickson brought 22 years of coaching experience with him to Wayne State as he was the coach at Creighton University for 16 years. Throughout his time at Creighton he led his team to double digit wins nine times as he took them to five NCAA Tournament appearances, five conference tournament titles and two regular season conference titles. With an overall record of 163-125-32 with the Bluejays Erickson has also seen success off the field landing his team the NSCAA Team Academic Award in his final 13 seasons with Creighton.

RANKINGS: Minot State is ranked as the No. 22 team in the country in the October 20 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II poll moving down one spot after its loss last week. Augustana fell out of the top 25, but received eight points in the voting. Wayne State did not receive any votes.  

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State suffered its first conference loss of the season last weekend with a score of 2-1 against St. Cloud State. After the Beavers lost their first game of the season they were able to score three goals in the following game. Despite the final score in that game being 3-2 MSU only allowed goals off of penalty kicks. Minot State is 4-1 at home and have outscored its opponents 11-5 in those home appearances.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Augustana finds itself out of the NSCAA NCAA Division II Women's poll for the first time since joining the top 25 on September 22. The Vikings are coming off of a 2-1 loss against Minnesota State, a team Minot State tied earlier this season. After being the first to score in minute 63 Augustana allowed two goals in the final 13 minutes to fall to the Mavericks. Samantha Tymkowicz is the offensive leader of the Vikings with 11 goals and two assists.

NOTING THE WILDCATS: Wayne State has been outscored this season 27-8 in the 14 games it has played. With no players over four total points the Wildcats have struggled offensively taking the fourth fewest shots per game in the NSIC (11.36) and scoring the third fewest goals. The goalkeeper for Wayne State, Kylie Comba, however, has seen success with 100 saves, the second most in the conference.

SERIES HISTORY: The Beavers have split their series with the Vikings 2-2 and have yet to suffer a loss against Wayne State with a 3-0 record against the Wildcats.  

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State was able to get a quick lead over Augustana before ultimately falling 2-1 to the Vikings in 2014. Kristin Long (M, Sr., Mesa, Ariz.) scored the Beavers lone goal less than nine minutes into the match. Minot State defeated Wayne Stat in 2014 2-1 with a goal and assist from Emilie Rebelo (D, Sr., Sacramento, Calif.).

CHASING RECORDS: Junior transfer Ninfa Ramirez (F, Perris, Calif.) has been hot in her first season scoring in 10 of the Beavers 14 games with a total of 11 goals. With those 11 goals Ramirez ties the school's single season goal record. She also is currently in sole possession of the second most points scored in a season with 24. The number one spot belongs to Zoe Fisher who had 31 points in 2012.

FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: Last week the Minot State soccer team was ranked No. 21 in the country by the NSCAA. This was the first time since joining Division II that the school has been ranked in the top 25 in any sport. This week the Beavers remained in the top 25, moving down one spot due to a loss, at No. 22.

MOVING INTO THE NO. 1 SPOT: Goalkeeper Celene Johnson (Sr., Rocklin, Calif.) now has the most wins in school history with a total of 19 wins. Johnson moved into the number one spot after Minot State's win over Upper Iowa on October 4, which was her 16th career win. The mark she beat was set by current assistant coach Marie Torres who recorded 15 wins during her time with the team from 2010-12.

BY THE NUMBERS

0.85: Goals per game allowed by goalkeeper Celene Johnson (Sr., Rocklin, Calif.). Johnson has allowed the fourth fewest goals per game of any goalie in the Northern Sun.

57: Shots taken by forward Ninfa Ramirez (Jr., Perris, Calif.). That mark is high enough to be tied for third most shots taken in the NSIC.

1275: Minutes played by defender Haley Lolmaugh (Sr., Phelan, Calif.). That is the most minutes played by any Beaver this season. Lolmaugh has only been out of a game for 10 total minutes, in the second game of the season.