STEVENS POINT, Wis. – Following a stretch of three-straight games against top-15 teams, the UW-Stevens Point football team looks to get back in the win column by hosting UW-La Crosse on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS
Who: UW-La Crosse (3-4, 2-2 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (3-4, 1-3 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 31 – 1 p.m.
Where: Community Stadium at Goerke Park – Stevens Point, Wis.

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LAST TIME OUT
After trailing 28-7 late in the second quarter and 28-13 after three quarters, UW-Stevens Point fought back to give itself a chance in the final minute but fell 35-27 to sixth-ranked UW-Whitewater on Saturday at Community Stadium at Goerke Park.

The Pointers got within eight points with 1:05 remaining when Jared Pankow (Mosinee, WI/D.C. Everest) caught a 22-yard touchdown. UW-Stevens Point then recovered an onside kick to give the Pointers a shot to tie the game. However, the Warhawks' Ryan Winske intercepted a pass on fourth-and-24 with 37 seconds left to end the comeback bid.

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PUTTING TOUGH STRETCH BEHIND THEM
UW-Stevens Point enters this week's matchup with UW-La Crosse with a 3-4 overall record, including three consecutive losses to top-15 teams. The Pointers' losses to No. 12 UW-Platteville, No. 5 UW-Oshkosh and No. 6 UW-Whitewater have come by a total of 22 points, an average of 7.3 points per game.

POINTERS AT GOERKE
The Pointers are 2-1 at Community Stadium at Goerke Park this season and are 7-2 on their home turf since the start of last season.

SOSINSKY CONTINUES TO SHINE
Senior Matt Sosinsky (Princeton, WI/Princeton) hauled in eight passes for a career-high 196 yards and a touchdown against UW-Whitewater. Sosinsky's 196 yards were one more than he had in the season-opener at Albion and stand as the most by a UWSP receiver since Theo Maglio had 201 yards against UW-La Crosse on Sept. 29, 2012. Sosinsky's 86-yard catch-and-run touchdown late in the second quarter is the longest offensive touchdown for UW-Stevens Point since Kurt Kielblock caught an 87-yard touchdown from Scott Krause against Augustana (Ill.) on Sept. 6, 2003.

PASSING GAME GETS IT DONE
In the loss to UW-Whitewater, UW-Stevens Point threw for 366 yards, the team's highest total since the team had 403 yards passing against Albion. The Pointers' 428 total yards are the most the Warhawks have allowed to an opponent this season and UWSP was just the third UWW opponent to have over 300 yards of offense.

Sosinsky, Pankow and Logan Taylor (Wausau, WI/East) each caught touchdowns against the Warhawks, marking the third game this season that UW-Stevens Point has had three players record at least one touchdown reception. The Pointers are tied with UW-Stout for the most passing touchdowns among WIAC teams this season (21). UW-Stevens Point has recorded a passing touchdown in 18 consecutive games and 26 of its last 27.

BROWN EXTENDS STREAK
With one sack last week against UW-Whitewater, defensive end Dan Brown (Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee) has at least one sack in each of the last four games. The streak has seen Brown become the WIAC's leader with 6.5 sacks this season. The senior ranks second in the conference with 10 tackles for a loss and has forced a pair of fumbles.

Brown will seek to extend his streak against a UW-La Crosse team that has allowed nine more sacks (27) than any other WIAC team this season.

TOP WIDE RECEIVERS
The Pointers and Eagles each boast one of the top receiving threats in the WIAC. Sosinsky and UW-La Crosse's Joel Oxton are tied atop the WIAC with 43 receptions and are tied for third with seven touchdown catches. Sosinsky is the only conference receiver to average over 100 yards a game this season (114.7), a figure that ranks 17th nationally, while Oxton is fifth in the WIAC with an average of 79.7 yards per game.

HALLOWEEN
UW-Stevens Point is 6-9 all-time in games played on Halloween. This is the first time the Pointers and Eagles have met on Halloween.

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UW-La Crosse is coming off a 27-25 victory over UW-Eau Claire last Saturday, which gave the Eagles wins in two of their last three games. The Eagles have alternated losses and wins in their four WIAC games this season and three of the contests have been decided by a total of 10 points.

UW-La Crosse is a perfect 3-0 at home and is 0-4 on the road this season. Three of the Eagles' four road losses are to top-12 teams (No. 12 St. Thomas, No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 6 UW-Whitewater).

With UW-La Crosse leading 27-25 late on, UW-Eau Claire drove down the field and attempted a potential go-ahead 42-yard field goal with 2:32 remaining but missed it. The Eagles had stopped the Blugolds on a game-tying two-point conversion with 10:39 remaining.

The Eagles had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the loss to the Blugolds, as Austin Mancosky had 111 yards on five rushes and Eric Rahman ran 11 times for 102 yards. UW-Eau Claire ran 60 times for 365 yards in the game against a UWL defense that allows 228.6 yards per game on the ground this season. UWL's John Tackett threw three touchdowns last week, including two to Oxton.

UW-La Crosse's Ryan Weber leads the WIAC with 89 tackles this season, 17 more than any other conference player. Weber's 53 solo tackles are 17 more than any other WIAC player.

THE COACHES
Tom Journell is in his fourth season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has a 17-20 career record at UWSP. His teams have steadily improved from 2-8 in 2012 to 5-5 in 2013 and 7-3 last season. In 2014, he led the Pointers to a 5-0 start that saw the team ranked No. 13 in the country, the team's highest ranking since early 2009. Prior to becoming the Pointers' head coach, Journell was the team's defensive coordinator for four seasons, helping UWSP to a 19-9 record. He was the head coach at Elmhurst from 2004-07 and compiled a record of 22-18 over the four seasons. Journell also spent 15 seasons at UW-River Falls as the Falcons' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

This is Joel Dettwiler's fifth year as the head coach at UW-La Crosse. Over four-plus seasons, Dettwiler has recorded a 16-31 record with the Eagles. He has coached 32 All-WIAC selections at UWL, including seven first-team choices. Dettwiler previously served as an assistant coach at Wartburg from 2004-10. The Knights were 57-18 in Dettwiler's seven seasons on the staff, won conference titles each season and made appearances in the NCAA Division III Playoffs in 2004, 2008 and 2010. He graduated from UW-Platteville in 1997 and served as an assistant coach and director of football operations with the Pioneers from 2000-04.

SERIES NOTES
This is the 63rd all-time meeting between UW-Stevens Point and UW-La Crosse in a series the Eagles lead 45-13-4. The teams first met in 1913.

Last season, UW-Stevens Point snapped UW-La Crosse's three-game winning streak in the series with a 24-17 win at home on Oct. 25, 2014. The Pointers trailed 17-10 at the half but held the Eagles to just 47 total yards in the second half. DeJuan Wright (St. Petersburg, FL/Keswick Christian) ran for 92 of his career-high 131 yards in the second half to lead the comeback.

The Pointers have won three of the last four meetings at Community Stadium at Goerke Park.