Yellowjacket Men's Soccer Travels to League-Favorite Western Washington and Saint Martin's

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BRIEFLY
The MSUB men’s soccer team opens the road Great Northwest Athletic Conference slate at Western Washington and Saint Martin’s this week.  The Yellowjackets are coming off a 1-0-1 record this past week with a tie in the GNAC opener to Seattle Pacific and a 3-1 win versus Jamestown College.

SCOUTING MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
The Yellowjackets enter the week with a 5-2-1 record after going 1-0-1 this past week.  The Yellowjackets tied Seattle Pacific in both teams’ conference openers and downed Jamestown College 3-1.   

The Yellowjackets, currently ranked eighth in the West Region in the latest NSCAA/adidas poll, are led by senior forward Sam Charles who leads the team and the league with 11 goals on the year.  He broke both the GNAC all-time scoring record and GNAC career goals scored record earlier this season. This last week, he set the GNAC record for consecutive games with a goal (9) and consecutive games with a point (11).  Second on the team in scoring is Garion Holian who has four goals and one assist for nine points.  Chris Andre leads the team with five assists and is first in the league in assists. 

In goal, the Yellowjackets are led by Matt Mitchell who has played 650:33 minutes and has an 0.83 goals against average.  He is 4-2-1 on the year with 34 saves and two shutouts and he combined with Sander Tollefson and Daneson Gray for a third shutout.  Mitchell leads the league in saves, save percentage and saves per game.  Sander Tollefson earned his first start of the season aginst Jamestown last week as he allowed one goal on a penalty kick with eight saves and has a 0.85 goals against average.

The Yellowjackets have blistered their opponents thus far as they have scored 20 goals in four games and allowed just seven.  The team has 23 assists already as well for 63 total points.  MSUB is shooting .167 on the year, while its opponents are just .065.  In addition, the ‘Jackets have 63 shots on goal for a .525 percentage and their opponents are at a .463 clip.  The Yellowjackets lead the league in goals (20), assists (23), points (63).

RECAPPING LAST WEEK
The Yellowjackets went 1-0-1 this past week with a 1-1 tie in their GNAC conference opener with Seattle Pacific and defeated Jamestown College, 3-1.  Sam Charles scored three goals on the week to put him at a league-leading 11 for the season.  Charles scored the lone goal for MSUB against Seattle Pacific in the first half, but the Falcons were able to get a goal in the second to force the tie.  Two first half goals by the Yellowjackets in a dominating performance was enough on a very windy Sunday afternoon versus Jamestown.  The Yellowjackets had a season-high 27 shots and 10 corner kicks versus the Jimmies. 

SCOUTING WESTERN WASHINGTON
The Vikings enter the week with a 3-5 record overall and will be playing their first conference games of the season.  WWU has lost four of its past five games and two-straight entering the week.  However, three of WWU’s five losses have been to top-25 teams this season.  The unanimous favorite to win the GNAC crown is led by sophomore Kellen Brown who leads the team with 10 points on four goals and two assists.  Oscar Jimenez is second on the squad with three goals and two assists.

Between the posts, the Vikings are led by Christian Warman and Cameron Copps-Tilley.  Copps-Tilley has played in six games and started five with a 2.52 goals against average.  He is 1-4 on the year with one shutout and 15 saves.  Warman has played in four games with two starts.  He has an 0.99 goals against average with nine saves and a 2-1 record.

INSIDE THE SERIES...
Western Washington holds a 10-1 record in the series, including an 8-0 record in Bellingham.  MSUB’s lone win the series came in 2007 in Billings in a 2-1 victory. WWU has won three of the past four meetings, including both last season - 1-0 in Bellingham and 2-1 in Billings.

SCOUTING SAINT MARTIN’S
The Saints enter the week with a 5-4 record and entertain Northwest Nazarene on Thursday before the Yellowjackets on Saturday.  SMU is led by Xan Nixon with four goals and three assists on the year.  He also leads the team with 27 shots and has two game winners.  Ruben Orozco and Conner Biggs each have three goals, while Vlad Voin leads the team with four assists.

In goal, the Saints are led by Zac Lubin who has played in nine games and started seven.  He has a 1.57 goals against average with 27 saves and a 5-3 record and two shutouts.  TJ Young also has seen some action in three games and is 0-1 with five saves and two goals against. 

INSIDE THE SERIES...
The Yellowjackets own a 3-1 record in the series and are 1-1 in Lacey.  Last season, the teams split the matches as both won on its home field.  The Yellowjackets won 2-1 in Billings, while SMU won 4-2 in Lacey.  MSUB was awarded a penalty kick in the 84th minute that Sam Charles converted to give the Yellowjackets a 2-1 win on Oct. 2, 2008, in Billings.  The Saints were helped by a hat trick from Ruben Orozco in the season finale to build a 4-1 lead through 75 minutes in both teams’ season finale.

MORE RECORDS FALL FOR CHARLES
Senior forward Sam Charles continues his onslaught of the school and GNAC record books as he set the GNAC record for consecutive games with a goal, topping his own record from 2007.  Charles has now scored in nine consecutive games dating back to last season.  In addition, he also has tallied at least a point in 11-straight games which also is a GNAC record.

600 & 700
There are seven players on the MSUB men’s soccer team that have played in 600 or more minutes so far this season.  Kyle Moriarty leads the way, playing in 731 of the 761 possible minutes.  Tom Milroy is second at 715 minutes.  Five different Yellowjackets also have played and started all eight games.  Sam Charles, Jeremy DeHerrera, Chris Andre, Milroy and Moriarty all have started every game.

CHARLES NAMED POW AGAIN
Senior forward Sam Charles earned his second GNAC Player of the Week honors of the season as he tallied three goals in two games this past week.  Charles leads the team and the GNAC with 11 goals and three assists for 25 points so far this season.  He was named POW the first weekend of the season as he tied the GNAC career points record and broke the GNAC goals record. 

MOVIN’ UP IN THE REGION
For the third week in a row, the Montana State Billings men’s soccer team is ranked in the region.  This week, the Yellowjackets are eighth after stints at being ninth and 10th.  Yellowjacket foe, Cal State - LA, is tops in the region and Seattle Pacific is fourth to round out MSUB opponents.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
The Montana State Billings men’s soccer team is ranked nationally in a number of areas.  The Yellowjackets are 27th nationally in scoring offense (2.5), 36th in team goals against average (0.86), 46th in shutout percentage (0.38) and 17th in save percentage (0.853).  Individually, Sam Charles is fifth nationally in points per game (3.13) and fourth in goals per game (1.38).  Chris Andre is 28th in assists per game (0.63), while Matt Mitchell is 37th in goals against average (0.833) and is 18th in save percentage at a 0.85 clip. 

MILROY ON THE ASSIST
For the second time in as many seasons, senior defender, Tom Milroy, hooked up with Sam Charles for the game winning goal in a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Mary on Sept. 13.  Milroy fired a long throughball to a streaking Charles down the center of the field who chipped it in past the Marauder goalkeeper for the game winner in the second half.  Milroy tallied his first assist last season in a 2-1 win over Saint Martin’s.

MITCHELL COMES UP BIG; EARNS POW HONORS
Junior goalkeeper, Matt Mitchell, recorded 17 saves as MSUB split two games earning him GNAC Player of the Week honors (Sept. 7).  In a heartbreaking 2-1 overtime loss to sixth-ranked Cal State-LA, Mitchell had six saves and then tallied a career-best 11 saves in a 2-0 blanking of previously unbeaten Cal Poly Pomona.  Mitchell becomes just the second GNAC goalkeeper to record 10 or more saves in a shutout since Ben Dragavon of Western Washington in 2005.  Dragavon had 15 saves in a 1-0 overtime win over Chico State that year.  This is Mitchell’s first POW honors.  He has a 4-2-1 record with 34 saves, a 0.83 goals against average and two shutouts.

JACKETS THIRD IN PRESEASON POLL
Montana State Billings was picked third in the annual GNAC Coaches Poll.  Western Washington was the unanimous favorite, followed by Seattle Pacific, MSUB, Saint Martin’s and Northwest Nazarene.  WWU had 25 points to lead the way.

CHARLES SETS SECOND GNAC RECORD
Senior Sam Charles broke the GNAC career scoring record this past week with a goal at Cal State-LA.  With that goal, it was his 95th point since MSUB has been in the GNAC breaking Bobby McAlister’s record of 93 (2002-2005).  For Charles’ career, he has 51 goals and 115 points, however the GNAC only counts records since MSUB has been in the league (2007). 

MCNALLY HITS .500
Head coach Dan McNally is 38-38-4 in his career at MSUB reaching the .500 mark for the first time.  McNally started his career 10-24-2 in his first two years and has gone 28-14-2 since.  He is the all-time winningest coach at MSUB in men’s soccer and has led the team to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school history.

LIVE ON THE WEB
This season ALL MSUB home men’s and women’s soccer games will be FREE on the internet with live video and audio as the voice of the Yellowjackets, Ken Adelblue, will have the call.