ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T has an opportunity Wednesday night to capture at least a share of its first Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season championship in six years – but a big obstacle stands in the way of the Miners and that title.
The Miners drew even with Rockhurst at the top of the GLVC standings Sunday by beating the fifth-ranked Hawks 3-1 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. To land the regular season title, S&T will have to first go through a Drury squad Wednesday night that has plenty to play for itself when the teams meet at Harrison Stadium in Springfield at 7:30 p.m.
While the Miners, who landed in this week's NSCAA Division II rankings at No. 16, have a chance to play for at least a share of the league's regular season title and top seed in the GLVC Tournament that will begin Sunday – for S&T, it will be at home in a 2 p.m. contest – the Panthers are also trying to secure a home game in the opening round and keep themselves in contention for a NCAA Division II regional berth.
Drury is currently tied with Missouri-St. Louis for fourth in the GLVC and owns the tiebreaker over the Tritons and would over Southern Indiana as well if it knocks off S&T on Wednesday. However, the Panthers, third in last week's NCAA Division II Midwest regional ranking, are just one-game ahead of a surging Quincy team that would get the edge over Drury and UMSL if the Hawks catch those teams.
The Panthers bounced back from a loss Friday at Rockhurst to blank William Jewell 2-0 on Sunday, getting goals from David Cross and Pierre Villez and a shutout performance in goal from Nicholas Helin to improve to 10-3-3 overall and 8-3-3 in the GLVC. Helin, who has played every minute in goal for the Panthers this year, has a 1.19 goals against average and 75 saves.
Charles Guelly leads Drury in scoring with eight goals and four assists, while Cross and Ben Bruce have scored seven times apiece. That trio has accounted for 22 of the Panthers' 31 goals this season.
The Miners, who have scored one more time than Drury this season with 32 goals, has the GLVC's top scorer in
Felipe Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) with 12 goals and three assists for 27 points.
Unnar Ulfarsson (Gardabaer, Iceland/Fjolnir Reykjavik) is also among the league's scoring leaders with six goals and seven assists, which is tied for second in the league, while
Will McIntyre (Queenstown, New Zealand) and
Austin Parks (Rolla, MO/Rolla) have notched four goals apiece.
Parks scored three times last week in three S&T wins, including twice against Rockhurst on Sunday to earn the GLVC's player of the week award.
Goalkeeper
Aaron Hohenstein (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran South) recorded his sixth shutout of the season on Friday at William Jewell and has the league's third-best goals against average of 0.74. His 84 saves lead the GLVC and rank 10
th in NCAA Division II.
S&T, 10-1-6 overall and 9-0-5 in the GLVC, was sixth in last week's NCAA regional rankings; the new rankings will come out Wednesday afternoon. The national ranking the Miners attained on Tuesday is the program's first since 2011.
NSCAA Division II Men's Soccer Rankings (Oct. 25, 2016)
1. Wingate (N.C.), 13-0-0
2. LIU Post (N.Y.), 13-0-1
3. Simon Fraser (B.C.), 11-0-2
4. Charleston (W.Va.), 12-2-1
5. Lynn (Fla.), 12-1-1
6. Rockhurst (Mo.), 13-2-1
7. Regis (Colo.), 12-2-1
8. Limestone (S.C.), 12-1-0
9. Adelphi (N.Y.), 12-1-1
10. UC San Diego, 12-1-2
11. Midwestern State (Texas), 13-2-1
12. Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla.), 9-3-1
13. Lindenwood (Mo.), 11-2-2
14. Pfeiffer (N.C.), 13-2-0
15. St. Edward's (Texas), 13-2-1
16. Missouri S&T, 10-1-6
17. Urbana (Ohio), 10-3-1
18. Cal Poly Pomona, 11-3-2
19. Franklin Pierce (N.H.), 10-3-0
20. Fort Hays State (Kan.), 10-3-1
21. Colorado Mesa, 12-1-3
22. Saginaw Valley State (Mich.), 13-3-0
23. Tampa (Fla.), 8-3-2
24. Gannon (Pa.), 10-4-1
25. Tusculum (Tenn.), 12-2-0
