DENVER - Making their first postseason appearance since 2009, the IUPUI women's soccer team collected this year's No. 2 seed and will take on No. 3 Denver at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday (Nov. 6) night at CIBER Field. Denver is hosting this year's four-team tournament by virtue of winning last year's Summit League title.
Top-seeded South Dakota State will play North Dakota State in the first semifinal prior to IUPUI's matchup with Denver. Â
"We're excited to be in the tournament," IUPUI Head Coach
Chris Johnson said. "As we know from past experience, anything can happen in a four-team tournament. Our goal was to be playing our best soccer at this point in the season and I think we've done that. We finished really strong in the regular season.Â
"Our girls have worked really hard to get to this point, but they also understand that there's more work to do."
IUPUI (7-9-3) comes into the postseason white hot, having won five out of six matches and outscoring its opponents 14-5 during that span. The Jaguars captured a postseason berth with a 2-0 win over Omaha on Sunday (Nov. 2), thanks to a pair of early goals from freshman
Krissy Kirkhoff.Â
Kirkhoff leads the Jaguars in goals (9), points (19), shots (72) and game-winners (4) while sophomore
Tori Minnich is also amidst a banner year. The Fort Wayne-native has seven goals and two assists and junior midfielder
Kalli Shepler-Tucker has a team-high six assists. All total, six different Jags have multiple goals and 12 different players have at least one point.Â
Defensively, freshman
Catherine Schmidt has also been hot of late, winning her last five decisions, including a pair of shutouts. During that span, Schmidt has dropped her goals against average to 1.23 while upping her save total to 67 on the year.Â
About the Field
No. 1 South Dakota State (9-7-1, 5-2-1 Summit)
Top Scorers: Diana Potterveld (6g-11a-23pts), Alyssa Brazil (7g-2a-16pts)
Primary Goalkeeper: Elisa Stamatakis (1.48 GAA, 22 saves)
Goals Scored/Goals Allowed: 30/28
Last Meeting with IUPUI: SDSU 2, IUPUI 1 - Oct. 3, 2014 in Brookings, S.D.
No. 3 Denver (9-8-1, 5-3 Summit)Top Scorers:Â Jocelyn Loomis (4g-3a-11pts), Francesca Garzelloni (3g-3a-9pts)Primary Goalkeeper:Â Tina Vargas (1.03 GAA, 14 saves)Goals Scored/Goals Allowed:Â 21/23Last Meeting with IUPUI:Â IUPUI 2, Denver 0 - Oct. 10 in IndianapolisNo. 4 North Dakota State (8-7-2, 4-2-2 Summit)Top Scorers:Â Lauren Miller (9g-1a-19pts), Amy Yang (2g-5a-9pts)Primary Goalkeeper:Â Sierra Bonham (0.88 GAA, 78 saves)Goals Scored/Goals Allowed:Â 21/15Last Meeting with IUPUI:Â North Dakota State 1, IUPUI 0 - Oct. 5 in Fargo, N.D.