Yellowjackets Host Mary, Westminster in Men’s Soccer Tourney (Oct. 1, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – The MSU Billings men’s soccer team will try to end a five-game losing streak this weekend when the Yellowjackets play their first and only home games of the season.  MSUB will host the University of Mary on Saturday and Westminster College on Sunday in a three-team round-robin tournament.  The Yellowjackets enter the weekend 5-7-1 with three games to play.

The three-day, three-game tournament will begin Friday at 2:00 p.m. when Mary and Westminster square off at Yellowjacket Field at the College of Technology.  MSUB will face Mary Saturday morning and Westminster Sunday morning.  Both games start at 11:30 a.m.

The Yellowjackets haven’t won since September 13 when they defeated Morningside, 3-2, in Bismarck.  They also defeated Mary, 3-2 in overtime, on the same weekend.  Since then, MSUB has been outscored 13-1 in five losses.  Four of the five losses were at the hands of teams ranked in the top ten of their respective regions.

Along with the losing skid has come a rash of injuries to starters.  Robbie Thimm (Sr., Park City, UT), Victor Sargent (Fr., Billings, MT) and Lucas Sanchez (Sr., Park City, UT) were all on the shelf last week.  Thimm is out for the season with a broken leg, Sargent is doubtful for this weekend, and Sanchez is questionable.  Midfielder and team leader Andres Calabro (Sr., Cipolletti, Argentina) is also questionable for the weekend.  That forces a bulk of the offensive load onto the shoulders of leading scorer Thomas Pertuit (Jr., Billings, MT).  Pertuit has scored 19 points on eight goals and three assists.  The next highest scorer to likely see action for the Jackets this weekend has three points.

The lack of offense in recent games has added additional stress to the Yellowjacket defenders and goalkeepers.  Jess Feldtman has started the last five games in goal for MSUB and has posted a 2.25 goals-against average.  In nine games and 761 minutes, he has allowed 19 goals and made 40 saves.  The Jackets primary defenders are Vincent Stefano (Jr., Palmdale, CA), Damian Wandler (Sr., North Platte, NE), Billy Dess (Jr., Laramie, WY) and Patrick Boltz (So., Kaneohe, HI).  Boltz missed part of MSUB’s last game with an injury, but is expected to return.  However, Stefano is questionable for this weekend.