ROLLA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's men's soccer team begins its second season under the direction of Rob Cummings with a pair of home games this weekend, as the Miners will host two highly-touted teams at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Miners will open the 2019 campaign Friday night with a 7 p.m. contest against Ouachita Baptist, who has captured the last two Great American Conference championships.  That game will be followed by a Sunday afternoon contest against Northeastern State, who was picked to finish second in the GAC and is ranked 22^nd in the United Soccer Coaches pre-season poll for NCAA Division II.  Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m.

Missouri S&T is looking to bounce back from a 3-13 season a year ago and will look to do so with a number of returners on the roster.  S&T lost its top three scorers to graduation, but returns six players that did tally at least one goal during the year.

That group is led by defender Tyler Sivadon (Spring, TX/Concordia Lutheran), who scored twice a year ago and will head up a back line that includes returners Joshua Zembas (Wadsworth, OH/Wadsworth), Paal Benum (Trondheim, Norway/Byaasen Videregaadende) and Tim Schreffl (Rosenheim, Germany/Findsterwalder Gymnasium).  The Miners' midfield grouping includes returners Joe Mueller (Cottleville, MO/Francis Howell Central HS), Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) and Mitch Mueller (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley).  Newcomers Josh Wobbe (Collinsville, IL/Collinsville) and Evan Birsinger (Friendswood, TX/Friendswood) are also expected to compete for significant roles in the rotation this season.

The Miners also return veterans Julien Denis (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) and Trey Haman (St. Louis, MO/St. Louis University HS) to the front line, which should be bolstered by fellow returner Thomas Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) and newcomers Bertram Gjelfort (Frederiksberg, Denmark/Falkonergaarden) and Sigurd Semlitsch (Oslo, Norway/Stabekk Videregaaende Skole).

Nick Posey (Edwardsville, IL/Edwardsville), who started every game in goal for S&T a year ago, returns to the position for his senior year after recording a 2.55 goals against average last season.  Posey made 67 saves in goal for the Miners.

ABOUT OUACHITA BAPTIST: The Tigers are coming off back-to-back conference championship seasons, winning the 2018 title despite finishing with a record below the .500 mark.  OBU posted a 7-10-1 record last year, but knocked off Harding 2-1 in the GAC championship game.

Abraham Lazo is the top returning scorer for the Tigers with five goals and an assist last season – the top two OBU scorers graduated – while Jakob Cueller had five points with a goal and three assists.  Ryan Wilson also scored twice last season, while Matt Day is the only returning goalkeeper with experience; he appeared in three games last season and made nine saves.

ABOUT NORTHEASTERN STATE: The RiverHawks enter the year ranked 22^nd nationally after finishing 15-3-1 and advancing to the round of 16 in the NCAA Division II Tournament.  Northeastern suffered all three of its losses to Fort Hays State and was outscored 8-2 in those contests, but outscored its opponents 60-13 in the other 16 games.

Flynn Semmerling and James Doyle scored nine goals apiece last season as the top returning scorers for the RiverHawks, while Ben Watson recorded 11 assists a year ago.  Thomas Salenbien saw the bulk of the minutes in goal for NSU last season and had a 1.06 goals against average with 46 saves in 1,106 minutes of action.