ROLLA, Mo. – The final weekend of home action for Missouri S&T's men's soccer team will also be a critical one for the Miners in terms of securing a spot – or possibly even a home game – in the upcoming Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

The Miners enter play Friday in a tie for fifth place in the GLVC with Bellarmine and will play the two teams are sandwiching the Miners and Knights in the standings this weekend.  First, S&T will take on Maryville in a 7:30 p.m. contest Friday at the S&T Soccer Field, then host Missouri-St. Louis on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Missouri S&T is 5-4 in the GLVC and 6-4-1 overall heading into this weekend's action, with Maryville in front of the Miners at 6-2-2 in league play and UMSL one-half game in back of S&T at 5-4-1.

The Miners won their only match last week, scoring twice in the second half to knock off Drury 2-1 at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Trailing 1-0 at the break, S&T got second half goals from Trey Haman (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis University HS) and Tyler Sivadon (Spring, TX/Concordia Lutheran) to win for the fifth time in its last outings.
 
Aaron Hohenstein (St. Louis, MO/Lutheran South) leads the GLVC and is ranked second in NCAA Division II in saves with 79 on the year and brings a 1.30 goals against average and three shutouts into Friday's match.

David Murphy (Naperville, IL/Naperville Central) and Unnar Ulfarsson (Gardabaer, Iceland/Fjolnir Reykjavik) lead the Miners in scoring with 10 points apiece, as Murphy has recorded four goals and two assists and Ulfarsson has racked up a team-high six assists – including one on Friday's game-winning goal -- which ranks in a tie for first in the GLVC.  Felipe Andrade (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/) has also scored three times for the Miners. 

The Miner seniors will also be honored prior to the start of Sunday's match with UMSL.

ABOUT MARYVILLE: The Saints, in the midst of their best season as a member of NCAA Division II with a record of 8-2-2 overall and 6-2-2 in the GLVC, played to a pair of ties last weekend, playing to a 1-1 draw with fifth-ranked Rockhurst before ending up in a scoreless tie with Drury two days later.

Maryville received votes in this week's United Soccer Coaches Division II poll and was ranked in the top 25 earlier this season.

The Saints have allowed the second-fewest number of goals in the GLVC this season, as only eight shots have gotten past goalkeeper Christian Kjaersgaard.  He enters the week with a goals against average of 0.63, the second-best in the conference and 16^th-best mark in Division II.

Pontus Gitselov leads the Saints in scoring with six goals and two assists, while Joergen Pettersen has scored four times and JD Sohn and Helmut Florencia have three goals apiece.


ABOUT MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS:  The Tritons fell 2-0 Sunday to fifth-ranked Rockhurst to drop to 5-5-2 overall and 5-4-1 in conference play and also in the scramble to one of the eight playoff spots in the league.

Pat Ries leads the GLVC in scoring with eight goals and three assists for 19 points and has two game-winning goals to his credit this season.  The Tritons have also received three goals from Nick Harper as they are tied for third with Maryville and Lewis in the league with an average of 1.67 goals per game.

Goalkeeper Jake Schmidt, who has played every minute in the nets for the Tritons this season, owns a 1.40 goals against average with 37 saves.