ROLLA, Mo. – After reaching the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament appearance in five seasons and coming within 29 seconds of bumping off the top seed in the opening round, Missouri S&T's men's soccer team will embark on its 2023 campaign this weekend with a pair of games in the state of Oklahoma.

The Miners, who were picked to finish eighth in the GLVC following a 5-7-5 overall campaign in 2022 and 4-4-4 mark in conference play, will kick off their season Friday with a 7 p.m. match at Rogers State in Claremore, Okla.  S&T will then take on Northeastern State Sunday at 1 p.m. in Tahlequah, Okla., before its home opener on Sept. 8 against Kentucky Wesleyan.

Missouri S&T put 32 goals on the scoreboard during the 2022 season, nine of them coming from GLVC Offensive Player of the Year Jason Jorgensen (Florence, Italy/Liceo Scientifico Santa Maria) who graduated after last season.  Head coach Rob Cummings is hoping for increased production across the board to make up for the loss of those nine goals as a majority of the team is still intact from last fall.

Sigurd Semlitsch (Oslo, Norway/Stabekk Videregaaende Skole), who also earned All-GLVC honors last season, leads the offensive attack as he recorded seven goals on the year; he was among 14 Miners that scored goals over the course of the season as he finished as S&T's second-leading scorer.  The Miners also got three goals last season from Robert Suellentrop (Fenton, MO/Rockwood Summit) and two apiece from Jimmy Sanchez (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell Central) and Shane Cairns (North Olmstead, OH/North Olmstead).  Sanchez was third on the team in overall points with eight as he added two assists.

S&T returns its goalkeeper from last season in Davis Joseph (Andover, KS/Andover Central), who started in all 17 contests and recorded a 2.29 goals against average in 1,493 minutes of action.  Joseph was credited with 56 saves over the course of the season.

ABOUT ROGERS STATE: The Hillcats were picked to win the Great American Conference/Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association championship this season after finishing the 2022 campaign at 10-4-6 overall and 7-1-4 in league play.  One of Rogers State's 10 wins came against the Miners, as they scored in the 90^th minute last August to come away with a 2-1 win at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The Hillcats return eight all-conference performers from last season, including leading scorer George Robinson who had five goals and six assists and Luke Morgan, who had three goals during the year.  Declan Viljoen finished the season with a league-best 0.88 goals against average.

ABOUT NORTHEASTERN STATE: The RiverHawks were tabbed for a fourth place finish in the GAC/MIAA and will face Drury on Friday in Springfield, Mo., before taking on the Miners Sunday afternoon.  NSU was 9-6-3 last season and is looking to replace its top two scorers from that team; the top returner in that department is Martin Martinez, who recorded five goals and three assists.

Goalkeeper Niklas Kirhoff started in all 18 games and finished with a 1.01 goals against average and eight shutouts.  S&T defeated the RiverHawks 2-1 to open last season's schedule.