Live Stats/Live Video – Live Stats and Live Video of both of SMU's Soccer Matches will be available with links found on smusaints.com. Live stats and video will be produced by each of the home teams and can also be found on their respective websites.
Social Media – Follow the Saints on Instagram (saints_w_soccer) and follow SMU Athletics on Facebook (Saint Martin's Saints), Twitter (SMUAthletics), Instagram (saints_athletics) and YouTube (SMU Athletics).
COMPLETE MEDIA GUIDE
Season Preview – The Saints began the season with three home exhibition matches before traveling to California for kick off the season against Cal State Monterey Bay and Notre Dame de Namur. The Saints travel to Northwest University on September 5 before returning home for their first home non-conference match against Westminster College on September 8 at 3:00 p.m. SMU hits the road again to face Pacific Lutheran and returns home to host Cal Baptist to wrap up their non-conference schedule. Saint Martin's begins the 2017 conference schedule on the road against Seattle Pacific before returning to Lacey, Washington for four straight home matches, starting with the reigning NCAA National Champions Western Washington on September 23 and concluding with Concordia on October 5. The Saints travel to Billings, Montana and Bellingham, Washington for their first look at the Montana State Billings team before their rematch with the Vikings of Western Washington. The final two home matches for the Saints are against Seattle Pacific on October 14 and Senior Night against Montana State Billings on October 19. The 2017 regular season will conclude with three straight road matches featuring Western Oregon, Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene. Key Returners for the Saints include
Lauren Allison (three goals, one assist, seven points),
Kylee Sarchett (two assists, two points),
Shea McKnight (two goals, four points), and midfielders
Dulce Armas,
Brittany Orlosky and defender
Rose Robbins. The Saints return both goalkeepers from last season, with
Ali Koehler (1,419 minutes, 50 saves, 54.9 save percentage) and
Sara Christensen (223 minutes, 15 saves, 71.4 save percentage) both looking for time in front of the net.
Preseason Review – After dropping a close match to NAIA opponent Corban University, 2-1, the Saints rallied back in their next two exhibition matches. The Saints dominated the ball and dominated the tempo in their match with local rival The Evergreen State College by outshooting the Geoducks 14-to-2. In the final exhibition match against Thompson Rivers, the Saints rallied in the second half to knot the score at 1-1 before striking with the golden goal with 22 seconds in the second and final overtime period. Freshman
Kiersten Madsen led the Saints with two goals, including the game-winning goal versus Thompson Rivers, while McKnight,
Selesha Harrah and
Gloria Petri all contributed with a goal of their own. Orlosky, Petri and Sarchett each recorded an assist during the three matches. The Saints outshot their opponents 36-to-19, and were led by Orlosky (9) and McKnight (8). Their opponents took 12 corner kicks compared to the Saints' 11; however, the Saints took an average of 12 shots per contest and allowed 6.3 attempts from their opponents. Four of the Saints' five goals came in the second half or later while their opponents scored two of their three in the first half. Christensen played 165 minutes at keeper during the preseason, recording four saves and only allowing one goal for a 80.0 save percentage. Koehler took 135 minutes at the position, making three saves and conceding two goals.
Heather Cato Named New Head Coach – After coaching for one season at NCAA Division-I school Central Michigan,
Heather Cato was hired during the summer to led the Saints' women's soccer program. Cato was the former head coach at Whitman College and Rogers State where she amassed a total of 28 victories while maintaining a team GPA of 3.5. Cato helped coach the Chippewas to an impressive 15-3-3 record last season, that resulted in a trip to the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals. Central Michigan's season included victories over Kansas State, Michigan State and Massachusetts.
GNAC Preview - With the 2016 NCAA National Champion Western Washington Vikings sitting atop the NCAA Preseason poll, the Vikings look to add another national championship trophy to their collection. However, the gnac will not be an easy road to conquer with national receiving votes getter Central Washington and fifth-ranked west region Seattle Pacific look to challenge the Vikings atop the GNAC. Concordia and Simon Fraser enter the season ranked third and fourth in the conference poll followed by Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings. Rounding the conference is Northwest Nazarene, Western Oregon and Saint Martin's.
Cal State Monterey Bay Preview – Coming off a 6-11 season, the Otters were picked to finish in last place in a highly competitive 13-team CCAA conference under new head coach Laura VanWart. Leading the charge for the Otters is their top goal scorer Ashlee Cortez who finished the 2016 season with five goals and 10 points. Second leading goal scorer Hannah Kind (two goals, five points), along with Madison Aquirre (one goal, four points) and Karlee Neer (one goal, four points) look to push the program back into the win column. Cal State Monterey Bay played four keepers throughout last season and return two including sophomore Alyssa Noh who led the team in minutes (572), save percentage (83.3) and wins (3).
Notre Dame de Namur – Out of the PacWest, the Argonauts finished the 2016 year with a mark of 7-9-2, including a 5-1-1 home record. Senior Alina Martinez (five goals, two assists, 12 points) and sophomores Susan Whitney (eight goals, 11 assists, 27 points) and Vanessa Sanchez (four goals, four assists, 12 points) each earned All-PacWest Preseason honors. Whitney and Martinez both earned D2CCA All-West Region honors and Whitney was also named PacWest Freshman of the Year last season. The Argos' were picked ninth out of 14 teams in the PacWest Preseason Poll.
