On Tap
The 2014 regular season comes to a close this week as Macalester hosts Concordia, Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m., before travelling to Saint Mary's, Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
 
Records
Macalester, 8-7-1 overall, 4-4-1 MIAC (13 pts, tie 6th place)
Concordia, 11-3-2 overall, 6-1-2 MIAC (20 pts, tie 3rd place)
St. Mary's, 5-10-1 overall, 0-8-1 MIAC (1 pt, 12th place)
 
When Last We Met
Concordia ended the Scots' eight-game winning streak last season with a 1-0, double overtime, win (10/29/13). Elizabeth Robinson scored on a penalty kick in the 102nd minute to give the Cobbers a win at home.
 
Four days later, Macalester second the second seed in the MIAC playoffs with a 6-0 rout of St. Mary's (11/2/13). Georgia Cloepfil record a hat trick and had two assists for an eight-point game.Lydia Chodosh scored just two minutes, 22 seconds into the game and went onto add an assist while Bonnie Bentson also had a goal and an assist and Hannah Walker registered a pair of assists.
 
Last Week
The Scots took an early 1-0 lead at 13th-ranked UW-Whitewater but the Warhawks came back to win their 12th game in a row and garner their first victory versus Macalester. Bonnie Gale scored her fourth goal of the season in the 15th minute but UW-Whitewater dominated the second half, holding a 12-4 advantage in shots and a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.
 
Saturday night, the Scots won their third consecutive conference game, keeping their playoff hopes alive, with a 2-0 win at home over St. Catherine. Hayley Stutzman, in the 35th minutes, and Kara Komoto, in the 68th minute, scored Macalester's goal, both of which were set up by Hannah Pollard-Garber.
 
Following the Scots
Wednesday's live video and stats will be available through the Macalester Stretch Internet portal at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/macalester/. Live stats for Saturday's game will be available from Saint Mary's at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/smu/stats.htm?eventId=160958&streamType=stats.
 
She's the Boss
Michele Cornish is in her third year as the head women's soccer coach at Macalester College. The Scots returned to the MIAC playoffs and the conference championship game in 2013 after finishing second in the team standings under Cornish's leadership.
 
A former Macalester assistant under John Leaney in 1991, Cornish was the head women's soccer coach at NCAA Division I North Carolina-Asheville from 1994 to 2010 and, in 2010-11, was the girls' soccer head coach at Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minn.
 
Cornish became head coach of the UNC-Asheville program in 1994 and, at the age of 26, was one of the youngest coaches in the nation upon her hiring. She quickly made an impact with the young program that was in its third year of existence.
 
In 1995, she led the Bulldogs to the Big South Conference championship and a school-record 16-5 mark. Asheville finished the season in second place in the league standings and advanced to the league title game for the first time. Cornish led the Bulldogs to back-to-back Big South Conference regular-season titles in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, she guided Asheville to the Big South Conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. She finished her Bulldog career with 134 victories, making her not just the all-time winningest coach at UNC-Asheville, but the Big South, as well. Cornish led Asheville to the Big South Conference title game seven different times and was a two-time Big South Conference Coach of the Year.
 
As a student-athlete, she played at George Mason and was a member of the school's NCAA Division I national championship team in 1985. Prior to her college career, she was selected to the first U.S. representative women's soccer team to play in China, and was the team's youngest player and leading scorer during the tour.
 
In her 19th season as a collegiate head coach, Cornish has amassed a record of 165-151-24 and is 31-18-3 in her third season at Macalester.
 
Mac Musings
After an injury kept her out of action for the entire month of September, Pollard-Garber came off the bench in her first three games back in the lineup before starting the team's last four games in the midfield. She has five assists in her last five games and, since returning from the injury, has five assists and 17 shots. Saturday, she played 90 minutes for the first time this season.
 
Saturday's win marked Emma Toomer's fourth shutout of the season.
 
Margaret Nemetz is averaging just over 92 minutes played per game on the season and has gone the distance in 14 of her 16 starts. She has also taken 51 of the team's 53 corner kicks on the season.
 
Up Next
The MIAC quarterfinals, with the third seed hosting the sixth seed and the fourth seed hosting the fifth seed, are slated for Tuesday, Nov. 4. The winner of the 3-6 seed will face the number one seed and the 4-5 winner will play the second seed, Wednesday, Nov. 5. The championship game, and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, is slated for Saturday, Nov. 8, at the site of the highest remaining seed.