Men's Soccer | October 13, 2015
DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The Iowa Conference train keeps rolling on Tuesday night as Loras welcomes Coe to the Rock Bowl. The weekend fixture will pit the Duhawks against Luther for Senior Night.
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS COE •••Loras is 20-2-1 all-time against Coe and have won the last 19 meetings, dating back to the 1989 season.
LAST MEETING VERSUS COE •••When these two sides met in 2014, Loras handed Coe a 9-nil setback on the backs of goals from a wide range of players to end the regular season. Loras took 40 shots, including 17 on target.
Chris Paulino and
Austin Jacobi both recorded braces in the effort.
SCOUTING THE KOHAWKS •••The Kohawks enter Tuesday's matchup with a 4-8-1 overall record and winners of their last three matches. Their last two outings have been 2-1 double-overtime thrillers with both game-winning goals being scored by Shuhei Miyake. On the year, Coe has been outscored 25-13, but are 4-for-4 on penalty kicks. The Kohawk defense has allowed 17 second-half goals, compared to seven in the first half. For Coe to remain in the game, they'll need to match the pace and play of Loras, something that many teams simply don't have the personnel to do.
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS LUTHER •••Luther is the only team in the Iowa Conference to have a winning record against Loras, coming in at 14-11-2. Loras earned their first win against the Norse in 2002, a 2-1 win thanks to a game-winning goal from Nick Roe. In goal, Nick Murray stopped five of the six shots he saw, surrendering only a penalty kick goal in the 22nd minute.
LAST MEETING VERSUS LUTHER •••In last year's meeting in Decorah, Loras fell behind early, conceding the opening goal to Clay Walker. Before the end of the first half, Loras leveled thanks to
Mike Pizzello's 10th goal of the year. The Duhawks found the winner in the 70th minute on a goal from
JoJo Schmidt.
SCOUTING THE NORSE •••After finishing 2014 at 16-3-1 and missing out on the NCAA Tournament, Luther has started their 2015 season with a 7-3-3 mark. An opening day 4-nil loss to St. Olaf sparked a five-game unbeaten streak for Luther. Since the opening day setback to St. Olaf, Luther has dropped matches to Macalester (3-1) and Saint John's (1-0), both of which have been in regular talks for national rankings this season. Five players on the Norse roster have scored four or more goals, with Nigel Nielsen leading his side with five, while adding three assists for 13 points. In goal, Tommy Breen has been the everyday starter, posting a 1.13 goals against average and a 3-3-3 record.
CONFERENCE DOMINANCE •••The success of the Duhawk men's soccer team in the Iowa Conference has been well documented in recent years with Loras capturing at least a share of the regular season title in three straight seasons. In addition, the Duhawks have only dropped one regular season conference match during that time period, a 2-1 defeat in 2013 to Wartburg on the road. Since that defeat, the Duhawk Men have posted an impressive 13-match conference regular season winning streak that is still ongoing thanks to two convincing conference victories against Simpson and Central so far in 2015.
HOME PITCH DOMINANCE •••The past two trips to the Rock Bowl for Coe College have gone the Duhawks way. Dating back to 2001, Loras is 6-0-0 against Coe, and own a +30 goal differential in those games. In home games during this stretch, Coe has yet to score a goal.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH •••Alex Bradley is a key piece of the offense for the Loras men's soccer team, and this season he has come up big when needed. So far this season, Bradley has netted three game-winning goals in only seven games played, which leads the Duhawks. After missing more than half of the 2014 season due to injury, Bradley has provided a strong offensive upside in 2015 in addition to his on-field leadership.
OFFENSIVE AGGRESSIVENESS •••To keep the 3-0-0 conference streak in-tact on Tuesday, the Duhawks will need to continue to push the tempo on offense. So far this season the Duhawks have taken 40 shot attempts and have scored 12 more goals than opponents. With 63 corners compared to 36 surrendered to their opponents, Loras constantly puts pressure on opposing backlines, often times resulting in key goals.
DEFENSE THE FOCAL POINT •••Loras has been led on defense by senior
Sam Koenig and crew along with sophomore goalkeeper
Jacob Peterson. The defense and Peterson collected their seventh shutout of the season this past weekend against Wartburg in Waverly. Of Loras' seven wins, six of those were games in which the Duhawks won and kept the opponent off the board. Peterson, through 11 games, has only given up nine goals and holds a save percentage of 0.833. To extend their win streak to three this Tuesday night against Coe, the defense and Peterson will have to continue their dominance in the back.
BENCH MOB •••The Duhawks have carried on the program's great tradition and enjoyed much success so far in 2015, exemplified by their appearance in the top-25 national rankings for most of the season. Many familiar faces, like senior forwards
Alex Bradley and
Johnny Rummelhart, have been an integral part of this season's success, which is nothing out of the ordinary for the Duhawks. However, the 2015 side's dominance has been marked by the contributions of second-line forwards
Mike Gordon and
Austin Jacobi, whom have provided a spark for the Duhawks off the bench. Gordon and Jacobi, who have yet to make an appearance in the starting XI, are tied for the Duhawk lead in goals with four. Their eight combined tallies have come on just 19 shot attempts, 14 of which were on target.
THE TEAM TO SEE •••It's no secret that the Loras soccer teams have a reputation of excellence from their past NCAA performances. This season, the men have proven they are contenders in the Iowa Conference once again. The Duhawks currently find themselves tied at the top of the table with crosstown rivals University of Dubuque with identical 3-0-0 records. Loras continues to impress which explains why the team is leading the conference in attendance. Loras averages 317 people in attendance at their matches.
FOURTH-TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN DIII •••It's no surprise that Head Coach
Dan Rothert challenges his team year in and year out to compete at the highest level. In week six of the season, Loras ranks sixth in all of Division III with an opponent win percentage of .695. The next highest school from the Iowa Conference is Wartburg at No. 41 with an opponent win percentage of .605.
