Seniors Send Off Battlin’ Bears, 4-0

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BILLINGS, Mont. – A second half hat trick by senior Sam Charles propelled the Montana State Billings men’s soccer team to a 4-0 victory over Rocky Mountain College on Senior Day at Yellowjacket Field.  With the win the Yellowjackets improved to 10-3-2 on the year, marking the third consecutive season that MSUB has reached double-digit victories, which is a school record.

“We were excellent in the second half today,” head coach Dan McNally said.  “Rocky worked hard defensively and, until we got our first goal, it was a good local rivalry.”   

It was the first regular season meeting with Rocky in school history as RMC added men’s soccer as an intercollegiate sport this year.

Prior to the game, six seniors who are playing in their final season were honored.  Zach Yeager, Sander Tollefson, Jarred Weisen, Jeremy DeHerrera, Tom Milroy and Charles will leave MSUB as the winningest class in school history and are 33-15-3 in the last three years and are 38-26-5 over their careers with a minimum of three games left this season.

“I am really proud of my seniors,” McNally added.  “They mean so much to the program and to me.  It was great to see their parents at the game, but unfortunately Sam’s parents weren’t able to make the trip from England. He wanted to dedicate his three goals to his parents for making it possible for him to attend college in America.”

Charles’ hat trick is his first since Sept. 8, 2008, in a 3-1 win over the University of Mary.  He now has four for his career in the GNAC to lead the school and conference record books.  Charles scored the first goal of the game on a penalty kick as he was fouled in the box in the 55th minute.  It was Charles’ third made penalty kick of the season and he now is 15 for his career.  In addition, it was Charles’ seventh game winner of the year and 22nd of his career.

Less than three minutes later, Charles put the Yellowjackets up 2-0 on a beautiful pass and shoot as he hooked up with Chris Andre for the score.  It was Andre’s team-leading eighth assist of the season. 

Rocky didn’t have a shot in the first half but had a real good scoring opportunity in the second as it scored a goal, but prior to the goal Rocky was called offside to nullify the score.

Charles scored his third goal in the 87th minute on assists from James Henry and Weisen.  With just over a minute left, Weisen tallied his fourth score of the year as he took a DeHerrera pass and beat two defenders for the score at the 88:53 mark.  It was DeHerrera’s eighth assist of the year tying him with Andre for the team lead.

MSUB dominated the game in all facets.  MSUB outshot the Bears 16-1 and 10-0 in shots on goal.  The Yellowjackets had a season-high 12 corner kicks on the day.  Charles led the team with six shots and four on goal and the three scores as he tied his own school record for 19 goals in a season.

Tollefson recorded his second consecutive shutout and improved to 3-0 on the year.  He tallied the shutout in a 3-0 win at Northwest Nazarene Tuesday.  Saturday was the Yellowjackets’ sixth shutout of the year.

The Yellowjackets conclude the home portion of the schedule next week at they return to Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Thursday, at 12:30 p.m. versus Saint Martin’s and Saturday versus Western Washington at 3 p.m. both at Yellowjacket Field.  The Yellowjackets are in the thick of the conference championship race as it looks like it will come down to the wire. MSUB then concludes the regular season Nov. 4 at Rocky in a makeup game from Oct. 11.