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2005-2006 News
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Yellowjacket Soccer Opens with Tough Road Games (8/24/05)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State-Billings head soccer coach Dan McNally won’t have the luxury of beginning his career with an easy early season schedule.  McNally—in his first year as a head coach—will kick off his career this weekend when the Jackets open the 2005 season with games in Denver at Metropolitan State and Colorado School of Mines.

Metro State and Colorado School of Mines have been picked to finish 2-3 in the tough Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.  Both teams had stellar 2004 seasons and return a number of the RMAC’s best players.

Metro State finished second in the RMAC regular season with an 8-3-1 conference record.  The Roadrunners won the conference tournament and finished 15-4-2 overall.  They return Preseason All-RMAC players Phil Owen, Preston Borrego, Antonio Porras, and Zack Cousins.  Owen and Borrego each earned All-Midwest Region honors in 2004.  The Yellowjackets are 0-5 all time against the Roadrunners, losing 3-0 in Denver last year.

Colorado School of Mines placed third in the RMAC in 2004 with a 7-3-2 conference record and a 10-4-5 overall mark.  The Orediggers return Preseason All-RMAC players Rafael Ribeiro, Mike Dixon, and Kevin Galloway.  Ribeiro and Dixon combined to score 15 of the team’s 33 goals last year while Galloway was 8-3-4 in goal with a 0.77 goals against average.  MSU Billings is 0-3 all time against the Orediggers, including a 3-1 loss in Denver last season.

The Yellowjackets played an exhibition game last Saturday against North Idaho College.  After falling behind 1-0 on an own goal in the first half, the Jackets rebounded to tie the game in the final minutes to secure a 1-1 draw.  Senior Patrick Boltz (Kaneohe, HI) scored the tying goal off a Josh Hernandez (So., Palmdale, CA) corner kick.

MSU Billings will rely on its defense in the early season while the Yellowjackets are searching for their offensive identity.  The Jackets lost last year’s top scorer Thomas Pertuit to graduation.  Now an assistant coach with the Yellowjackets, Pertuit scored 11 of the team’s 24 goals last year.

Adding to the challenge of the early season will be the fact that the Yellowjackets do not play a home game until September 21 when they host fifth-ranked University of the Incarnate Word (TX).  Ten of the Jackets’ first 11 games are away from Billings with trips to Colorado, Utah, and North Dakota.

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