September 10, 2007
Jackets Hold On for Conference Win (9/10/07)
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BILLINGS, Mont. – In the
first of three games in a busy week, the Montana State
Billings men’s soccer team opened their conference schedule
with a 2-1 win over Western Washington University Monday.
The Yellowjackets’ two first-half goals were enough to move
their winning streak to a perfect 5-0 overall and 1-0 in
league play. The loss dropped the Vikings, picked to
finish one spot ahead of the Jackets in the conference, to
3-3 and 0-1.
Two very evenly matched
teams battled back and forth across the field for much of
the first half of play. At the 34:11 mark the Jackets’
Scott
Dixon (Dorset, England) dropped in a high arcing pass to
a streaking
Sam
Charles (Weymouth, England). Charles broke away from
the pack to blast the ball into the net from just outside
the box. Charles has now scored in five-straight games
tying the school record set by Dustin Kono during the 2005
season.
A stunned Vikings keeper
was caught off guard just three minutes later when the
Yellowjackets struck again.
Jarred
Weisen (Great Falls) took a pass from teammate
Jeremy DeHerrera (Kalispell) on the right side and
punched the ball into the left corner of the net for the
eventual game-winner.
Down 2-0, the Vikings made
a shift in momentum early in the second half. At 50:43 the
Vikings’ Samir Vejo took a free kick from 20 yards, sailing
it past Yellowjacket goalkeeper
Sander Tollefson (Missoula) to move within one.
The Yellowjackets received
a scare in the final five minutes of play. Western
Washington’s Cris Geday placed a corner kick directly in
front of the Jackets’ goal. A header by the Vikings' Thomas
Kauffman was blocked by Scott Dixon before being kicked out
of range.
“Today was a very
important win for us,” said Yellowjacket head coach Dan
McNally. “We looked a little sloppy early in the second
half. I think we were a bit nervous as this was a big game
for us. We were able to hold it together and got a good
win.”
Western Washington
out-shot the Jackets 9-6 and 4-2 on goal. Tollefson made
two saves in earning his fourth win of the season.
Through the first five
games of the season the Jackets are just three goals shy of
last year’s season total of 18. The Yellowjackets have
seemingly put together an offense that can compete with any
team in the conference.
The Yellowjackets host
Seattle University on Friday and St. Martin’s University on
Sunday. Both games are conference counters with
Friday’s game set for 2:30 p.m., while Sunday’s game is
scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the College of Technology.
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