Late Goal Lifts Yellowjacket Men’s Soccer to Exhibition Victory, 1-0

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BILLINGS, Mont. – On a brutally hot day with temperatures reaching near 100 degrees, the Montana State Billings men’s soccer team fought through the heat and fatigue to a 1-0 exhibition victory over cross-town rival Rocky Mountain College at Yellowjacket Field Saturday afternoon.

“It was a difficult game for us today,” MSUB head coach Dan McNally said.  “We only have had five days of practice and we have a lot of new players.  The weather conditions were difficult because it was so hot.  We didn’t have a very good start to the game, but once everyone settled down we started to dominate the game and we almost deserved to win.”

With the weather conditions, the coaches before the game decided to play three 30 minute periods instead of two, 45 minute halves. 

The first 30 minutes saw the upstart Battlin’ Bears control the tempo, which put the Yellowjackets on their heels.  After a 10-minute break, the Yellowjackets came out in the second period with a renewed vigor and began creating opportunities.

In the third stanza, the Yellowjackets outshot Rocky 3-0 and tallied the winner on a nice strike from sophomore transfer, Thomas Sheets, from about 25-yards out past a diving Chuck Richards.  Richards had his hands on the ball, but it squirted through.

MSUB outshot the Bears 7-1 as Sheets had two shots with the game winner.  Five other Yellowjackets each had one shot, while senior Matt Mitchell played all 90 minutes in goal with one save.

The Yellowjackets return to action with their annual alumni game scheduled for 4 p.m., Sat., Aug. 28, at Yellowjacket Field.  The regular season opens two weeks from today (Sept. 4) at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz.  The home slate begins Sept. 10 versus Colorado Christian at 4 p.m.