ROLLA, Mo. – With wins in four of its last five games, Missouri S&T's men's soccer team heads into the St. Louis metropolitan area this weekend for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference matches as it looks to remain in the upper tier of the league standings.
The recent run by the Miners has moved them into a tie for third place in the GLVC with Bellarmine with a 4-2 conference mark – S&T is 4-4 overall – heading into Friday's 1:30 p.m. game at Maryville University. The Miners close the weekend trip Sunday against one of the teams immediately behind them in the standings, as they play at Missouri-St. Louis at 2:30 p.m.
Missouri S&T recorded its first shutout of the season Friday when it beat Illinois Springfield 5-0, then got a goal on a direct free kick by Eduardo Abichiabki with 4:20 to play in regulation time to top McKendree 2-1. The goal was the third of the weekend for Abichabki and fifth on the season, which has him tied – along with teammate
Felipe Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and three others – for the GLVC lead in goals. Andrade, with 12 overall points, leads the GLVC in that department.
Miner goalkeeper
Nick Posey (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), who got his first career shutout Friday, owns a 1.29 goals against average with 21 saves in 628 minutes of action.
Friday's contest at Maryville will feature the two most recent recipients of the GLVC's "Player of the Week"award in Abichabki and Saints' freshman goalkeeper Christian Kjaersgaard, who recorded a pair of shutouts as Maryville swept a weekend contests by 1-0 scores over Lewis and Wisconsin-Parkside.
Kjaersgaard, who held those two teams scoreless over 190-plus minutes of play, has a 0.74 goals against average for the season with four shutouts and only seven goals allowed. The Saints' top scorers are Nate Alonzo and Kevin Ptacek with two goals apiece.
Missouri-St. Louis is 4-3-1 overall and 3-2-1 in league play heading into Friday's home match with Drury and is coming off a 2-0 win Sunday at Lewis. The Tritons have been paced in the scoring department by Jon Huelsman with four goals and an assist for nine points, while DJ Bednar has a pair of goals and an assist for five points.
Goalkeeper Jack Filla owns a 0.85 goals against average and has also posted four shutouts in 741 minutes of playing time.
