UMAC Game of the Week - Crown at Martin Luther - Women's Soccer
UMAC Game of the Week Archives
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week’s UMAC Game of the Week will take place on Friday, September 18 at 4:15 p.m. as Crown College travels to New Ulm to take on Martin Luther College in women’s soccer action. Both teams currently own a 0-1 conference record and will look to gain valuable UMAC points in Friday’s competition.
About the Storm
The Crown women’s soccer team will be looking to rediscover their attacking form this weekend as they battle Martin Luther in the UMAC Game of the Week. The Storm opened the season with back to back 5-0 wins, only to fall by the same margin in back to back games at home. The Storm have a talented bunch of newcomers with the ability to score goals, with the group working out some kinks as they learn to play together.
Crown lost both games against MLC a year ago, dropping 2-0 and 1-0 decisions in a pair of hard fought games. Both teams have an even goal differential to start this season, but were shut out by significant margins in their first UMAC action of the season last week. Whichever team can recapture their offensive form first will likely decide the outcome of this early season battle.
About the Knights
The Martin Luther College women’s soccer team enters the game against Crown looking for its first win of the conference season after a disappointing performance in a loss at Minnesota Morris in Tuesday’s UMAC opener.
The key to the Knights has been their defense, holding opponents to six goals in their first four games before the start of conference play. New goalkeeper Julia Barthels has been solid with a .750 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average. She has a strong group in front of her, led by Sarah Kell and Rachel Naumann on defense, and Alyssa Maertz in the midfield. Naumann was a key piece missing in the team’s loss earlier in the week at UMM, and hopes to return to action on Friday against the Storm.
The offense is led by junior Jenna Maurer, who is the reigning UMAC Offensive Player of the Week and leads the Knights with five goals this season. Hailey Johnson, Abby Koelpin and Maertz each have two goals, while Emily Muir, Danielle Hall and Martha Balge also provide threats on that side of the field. For the Knights to win against the Storm, this group will need to break through and provide the defense with support.
Game Notes
- MLC has won its last four games against Crown, and nine of the last ten games in the series.
- Crown has had five different players score through the teams’ first four games, with two additional players adding assists
- Jenna Maurer has 30 goals for her career, good for fifth-most in MLC women’s soccer history. Her five goals this season are tied for third-most in the UMAC.
- Six of Crown’s starting 11 are freshman.
- Maurer set a new career high with four goals in last week’s win over Finlandia University.
- Of Crown’s 10 goals on the season, half have been scored by underclassmen.
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