ROLLA, Mo. – After spending the better part of the first three weeks of the 2015 season on the road, Missouri S&T's men's soccer team will begin a stretch of games on its home pitch this weekend with visits from Illinois Springfield and McKendree to the S&T Soccer Field.
The Miners will host UIS in a 7:30 p.m. contest Friday, then take on McKendree Sunday at 2:30 p.m. It will be the start of a stretch where the Miners will play seven of their final 11 regular season contests at home.
S&T comes into play this week at 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference after splitting a pair of one-goal contests away from home over the weekend. The Miners pulled out a 3-2 win Friday at Southern Indiana when
Maxi Fuchs (Munich, Germany) scored the go-ahead goal with 4:17 left in regulation time, but dropped a 2-1 decision Sunday at Bellarmine.
Felipe Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), who scored the Miners' lone goal on Sunday, is tied for the GLVC lead with four goals and also has an assist for a team-high nine points.
Eduardo Abichabki (Sao Jose do Rio Pardo, Brazil/Colegio Unigrau) and
Austin Parks (Rolla, Mo./Rolla) have scored two goals apiece and each have points heading into play this weekend.
Freshman goalkeeper
Nick Posey (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), who has started the last five games for S&T, has a 1.61 goals against average and 17 saves in 450 minutes of playing time.
Illinois Springfield is seeking its first conference win of the year; the Prairie Stars are 2-4 overall and are winless in four GLVC contests. UIS was blanked twice over the weekend, losing 2-0 to 22
nd-ranked Rockhurst and by that same count Sunday to William Jewell.
Dylan Stockman has scored three of the Prairie Stars' six goals on the season and leads the way with six points, while goalkeeper Tommy Geile owns a 1.56 goals against average in five appearances.
The Miners have won one-goal decisions over UIS in each of the last two seasons, including a 2-1 win in Rolla last October.
McKendree is currently tied for third in the GLVC with a 3-1 conference mark after beating William Jewell 3-0 and falling 2-1 in overtime Sunday to Rockhurst. The Bearcats are 3-2 overall heading into play this weekend and have shut out their opponent in each of their three wins.
Six different players have scored goals for the Bearcats this season, with Vijay Brahmbhatt leading them in scoring with four points. Scott Armistead has played every minute in goal for McKendree this year and has a 0.75 goals against average.
The Miners edged the Bearcats 1-0 last season on a goal by Abichabki in the final moments of regulation time, after the teams had played to a 1-1 tie in the last meeting in Rolla two seasons ago.
