#1 Midwestern State (18-0-2) vs. #19 Colorado Mesa (16-3-1)
NCAA Division II South Central Region Semifinals
Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017 | 1 p.m.
Stang Park | Wichita Falls, Texas
Live Stats: MSUMustangs.com |
Watch: Mustangs Digital Network
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- Midwestern State makes its 13th appearance in the NCAA Division II postseason beginning with Sunday's South Central Region semifinal against Colorado Mesa. It's the Mustangs' 30th overall national playoff appearance including 17 NAIA tournament runs.
- MSU is making its fifth consecutive NCAA postseason showing and 11th in the last 12 seasons.
- The Mustangs are 15-10-3 all-time in the NCAA Division II playoffs (dating back to 2002) including a 7-2-1 run on its home pitch.
- MSU advanced to the Final Four in 2007 and 2010 and to the national quarterfinals on six occasions (2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016).
- The Mustangs are on their second longest unbeaten streak in program history improving to 18-0-2 with a 1-0 win over St. Edward's in the Heartland Conference championship match last week. MSU went 26 matches without a loss between the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
- Midwestern has won seven consecutive matches since playing Rogers State to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 12th.
- Midwestern claimed its fourth conference postseason tournament championships as a member of NCAA Division II by claiming the 2017 Heartland Conference title. MSU claimed LSC titles in 1999 and 2001 and an SSC championship in 2006.
- The Mustangs finished off consecutive Heartland Conference regular season championships with a 12-0-2 league mark in 2017. In two seasons in the Heartland, MSU boasts a 25-1-2 record (.929).
- Midwestern are coming off its fourth unbeaten regular season going 16-0-2 this fall. The Mustangs also posted unbeaten regular season ledgers in 2002 (13-0-4), 2010 (16-0-2) and 2015 (16-0-1) – all coming under current head coach Doug Elder.
- Elder claimed his second straight Heartland Conference Coach of the Year honor and rates as one of the winningest coaches in any venue with a career mark of 272-56-32 (.800). The MSU alum and former All-America player piloted 20th-straight winning season and No. 3 national ranking. It's his ninth conference coach of the year award also winning accolades from the Southwest Soccer Conference (2005-08) and Lone Star Conference (2002, 2010-11).
- Senior midfielder Pierre Bocquet (8 goals, 5 assists) became the second consecutive Midwestern State Mustang to earn Heartland Conference Player of the Year honors following Gabriel Cavalcante.
- Carlos Flores (4 goals, 8 assists) garnered Heartland Conference Freshman of the Year accolades joining Bocquet, senior forward Scott Doney (13 goals, 2 assists) and junior defender Patrick Fitzgerald.
- Defenders Jordan Speed and Alex Mullet joined senior goalkeeper Richard Goss on the second team.
- Midwestern State ranks fourth in NCAA Division II in team goals against average (0.438) and is sixth in team shutout percentage (0.600) including 12 clean sheets.
- Goss ranks seventh in NCAA Division II with a 0.557 goals against average and is 22nd with a .818 save percentage.
- Redshirt-freshman keeper Taylor Lampe has also been superb allowing three goals in 879 minutes for a 0.31 goals against average with a glistening .897 save percentage in 10 starts.
- On the attack, MSU ranks 21st in total goals nationally with 44 and is 31st in scoring offense with 2.20 goals per game.
- Midwestern State meets Colorado Mesa for the third consecutive year in the South Central Region semifinals. The Mustangs have won two of the three. In 2016, Christian Okeke scored in the 89th minute to give MSU 1-0 win over CMU. In 2015, MSU got second half goals from Flavio Guzman, Leon Taylor and Laurence Chamberlain for a runaway 4-2 win. Both of those matches were played at Stang Park. In 2014, Colorado Mesa scored a 1-0 win in Grand Junction on the way to the program's first national semifinal appearance.
- Overall, the teams will meet for the sixth time Sunday afternoon at Stang Park. Midwestern State has won four of the five including all three games played in Wichita Falls.
- Colorado Mesa had its seven game winning streak snapped in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference finals – 2-1 to Colorado School of Mines. CMU finished as runner-up to the Orediggers during the regular season going 11-2-1 in league play.
- CMU senior defender Slater Elkind (1 goal, 2 assists) earned RMAC Defensive Player of the Year honors and was joined on the All-RMAC's first team by junior midfielder Moshe Perez (13 goals, 8 assists) and Kevin Del Mazo (8 goals, 7 assists).
- Junior goalkeeper Briley Guarneri (0.59 GAA, .810 save pct., 10 shutouts) and senior midfielder Roberto Diaz (2 assists) garnered second-team All-RMAC honors while junior midfielder Matthew Miller (4 goals, 4 assists) gained honorable mention.
- Colorado Mesa ranks sixth in NCAA D2 in shutout percentage (0.600) and eighth in team goals against average (0.583)
