ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's soccer team, which has won three of its last five games to work its way back into the playoff mix in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, will wrap up its home schedule this weekend with a pair of games against teams currently among the top eight in the league standings.

The Miners, who currently sit in 10^th place in the GLVC at 3-5 in conference play, enter the weekend just one game out of the eighth and final playoff spot as they prepare to host McKendree Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the S&T Soccer Field.  That match will be followed by the final home game of the 2018 campaign Sunday afternoon when S&T takes on Illinois Springfield at 2:30 p.m.

S&T's last four games have gone to overtime – all of which, ironically, have ended with 3-2 scores – and the Miners split the two they played last weekend.  After dropping a game in the second overtime period Friday to Missouri-St. Louis, S&T got an overtime tally from Trey Haman (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis University HS) Sunday to get a win at Truman State to improve to 3-8 on the year.

The Miners have scored 13 goals over their last five contests and are led in the scoring department by Unnar Ulfarsson (Gardabaer, Iceland/Fjolnir Reykjavik) with four goals and five assists and Austin Parks (Rolla, MO/Rolla) with five goals on the year.  Hunter Short (Rolla, MO/Rolla) scored in both games over the weekend and has three on the season.

Ulfarsson scored in the game at Truman and then assisted on Haman's game-winning goal, giving him 20 assists for his career which is one in back of Mike Balassi's S&T career record of 21.  In addition, his next point will move him into a tie for ninth on the program's career list for points, as he is one in back of Ryan Coates and John McQueary for ninth place.

Nick Posey (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville) ranks second in the GLVC in saves with 46 as play begins this weekend.

McKendree, which went winless in conference play a year ago, has risen into playoff contention this season as it enters Friday's contest at 6-4-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the GLVC.  However, the Bearcats have dropped their last three games, including overtime setbacks last weekend at Illinois Springfield and Quincy.

Gonzalo Correa leads the Bearcats with three goals, but McKendree has had 10 different players score for it this season.  Eddie Davis is the team leader in points with 10, as he has recorded a league-high six assists, while Alvaro Cortazar has a 0.93 goals against average and 32 saves.

Illinois Springfield is 6-4-2 overall and 5-2-1 in the GLVC following its win over McKendree and William Jewell and have recorded their last five wins in shutout fashion.  Goalkeeper Pijus Petkevicius has a 1.14 goals against average with 43 saves and has posted a league-high six shutouts on the season.

Despite their record that sits above the .500 mark, the Prairie Stars have recorded the third-fewest goals in the GLVC this season with 12; Mario Falsone, Mario Gonzalez and Rhys Wallace all have two goals apiece to lead UIS.