LIVE STATS: Northern State || MSU Moorhead
WEBCAST: Northern State || MSU Moorhead
 NSIC Weekly Release
This week in Peacock women's soccer… Upper Iowa (5-4) heads northwest with its five-game winning streak to take on a couple NSIC foes on the road. The Peacocks start the weekend with a game against the Northern State Wolves on Saturday at 1 p.m., then will take on the Dragons of MSU Moorhead on Sunday at 1 p.m. 

Northern State is 4-6 overall and 3-4 in NSIC play this season. The Peaocks and Wolves are deadlocked at a 3-3-3 all-time record, but UIU has lost just one of the last seven meetings. MSU Moorhead is 2-7 to start the year and tied for 14th in conference at 1-6. The Peacocks hold the edge in the all-time series against the Dragons with a record of 5-2.

High Five... The Peacocks current five-game winning streak matched their longest winning streak from last year, which they accomplished on two different occasions. The first stretch, from Sept. 22 to Oct. 6, included three of the opponents from this year's run of wins (St. Cloud, Mary, Minot).

According to Head Coach Brian Diaz... "Certainly it's nice having a five-game win streak, but just the same as when we were 0-4 and we talked about how we hadn't lost anything yet, we haven't won anything yet either. And while it's nice to have, if we don't follow that up and continue to have good results, that win streak will be all for not. So it's very important we focus on one game at a time, that's what has gotten us to this point and will be what allows us to continue our winning ways." 

Quality Losses... Despite their slow start to the season, UIU's four losses continue to look better and better. The four teams the Peacocks lost to have combined for a 31-5-3 record in this season. All four teams are regionally ranked, with Winona at #3, Augustana at #4 and Central Oklahoma at #5 in the Central Region, while Rockhurst is #5 in the Midwest Region. 

According to Diaz... "Obviously it's not the way we wanted to start out record-wise, but we came out and played really well against really high quality opponents. It made us battle tested for tough games that we're going to see in the Northern Sun Conference. We saw that last weekend, we saw that the weekend before, and I think those early matches will help us win the tough matches down the road."

Holding Down the Fort... UIU ranks tied for fourth in the conference with eight goals allowed this season, but has been even better over the last five games, allowing just two goals in that span. That's the second best total over that time frame, behind only #2 Minnesota State Mankato. 

According to Diaz... "Our entire back line has played well, anchored by Jess Dickhaus and Storm Walsh at the center back positions. Really, our team defense as a whole has been a lot better. Our midfielders and forwards have put in the effort to defend, and when you defend the way we have this season, you are going to put yourself in a position to win games by keeping the other team out of the net. It's been a team effort from Kaitlyn Emanuel in net all the way to our front line."

Aimee on the Attack... Senior forward Aimee Wronski currently leads the NSIC in shots per game, averaging 5.33 shots per match, and is second in the conference in total shots taken. Although Wronski isn't scoring as many goals as last season, she leads the team with four assists, which ranks tied for fifth in the conference. She has tallied a goal or assist on 7 of the 15 goals (46.6 percent) this season for the Peacocks. Last season, Wronski accounted for a point on 48.8 percent of UIU goals.

According to Diaz... "Well, certainly she's not sneaking up on anyone this year, when she got the accolades that she did last year. She's playing at a very high level right now and she's creating opportunities for herself and her teammates. That's what's important to us, that she is involved in so many of our goals, either directly or indirectly. She's playing a big piece of that and she's playing really well."

Last week for the Wolves… Northern State left Aberdeen, S.D. for the first time in NSIC play and split a pair of road games. The Wolves defeated Concordia-St. Paul, scoring 13 minutes into the match en route to a 2-0 win. NSU then dropped a match to the #2 Mavericks of Minnesota State, 1-0. 

Last week for the Dragons… MSU Moorhead lost two conferences matches on the road. #2 Minnesota State beat the Dragons, 4-0, scoring twice in the game's first ten minutes. MSUM then lost a heartbreaker to Concordia-St. Paul. The Dragons scoring the first two goals of the game, but CU scored late in the first half and added two goals early in the second half to defeat the Dragons, 3-2.