Yellowjacket Men’s Soccer Opens Home Slate Friday Versus Colorado Christian

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men’s soccer team opens the 2010 home schedule Friday at 4 p.m. versus Colorado Christian at the College of Technology Field, located at the corner of Shiloh and Central in Billings.  MSUB enters the contest with a 1-0-1 record overall, while CCU is 0-1.

The Yellowjackets had a successful trip to Phoenix, Ariz., last week as they came away with a 1-0-1 record courtesy of a hard fought 1-1 tie with host and Preseason Pacific West Conference favorite, Grand Canyon University, and a 1-0 victory over Dixie State College. 

In the opener, Sheets tallied equalizer in the second half (52:50) on an assist from Blair Sevenson.  He tallied two shots against GCU and followed with one shot against Dixie State.  GCU went up 1-0 on a goal from Mitchell Garcia in the 28th minute off a free kick.

Sheets was rewarded for his efforts as he was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Week Tuesday.

Against Dixie State, the game was scoreless until the 86th minute when Garion Holian received the ball off a cleared corner kick, settled it and drove it from 25-yards out into the upper 90 for the game winner at the 85:34 mark. 

Yellowjacket goalkeeper, Matt Mitchell, came up with a great stop on a penalty kick in the first half to preserve a 0-0 score.  Mitchell had three saves versus Dixie in his first shutout of the year and tallied seven stops in the double-overtime tie against Grand Canyon.

The defense stepped up big this past week, too.  MSUB held Pacific West Conference Preseason Player of the Year, Kyle Ciliento, without a goal as he had seven shots with three on goal for Grand Canyon.  Ciliento scored a hat trick against GNAC member Saint Martin’s in the following game.  Ciliento tallied 23 goals last season, one short of the national leader held by former Yellowjacket and Daktronics 2009 National Player of the Year Sam Charles. 

Leading the way for the Yellowjackets this season is Sheets and Holian who lead the team with one goal each.  Holian has six shots with four on goal to lead the team and the lone game winner.  Sheets has three shots with one on goal in two games, while Stevenson has the lone assist. 

As a team, the Jackets have a 0.95 shot percentage, while holding opponents to a 0.38 average.  MSUB has 22 shots with 15 on goal, while the opposition has 26 shots with 11 on goal.
 
In goal, Mitchell has played all 200 minutes with one goal allowed and a 0.45 goals against average with 10 saves.

Colorado Christian enters the game with a 0-1 record and has not played since Sept. 3 in a 3-0 home loss to Mesa State.  In the game, CCU tallied nine shots with three on goal, while Mesa State exploded for 22 shots with 12 on goal.  The Mavericks scored two first half goals to take control. 

Andrew Korff led the way for CCU with two shots on goal, while goalkeeper Jared Jacobs allowed the three goals and tallied nine saves.

The Cougars went 2-17-3 last season and 0-13-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

The Yellowjackets are 3-2 in home openers under sixth-year head coach Dan McNally.  The Jackets opened the 2009 season with a 6-0 victory over Colorado Christian the COT Field.

MSUB then heads to Pueblo, Colorado, where it will face Adams State College in a neutral site contest Monday at 2:30 p.m., and then face Colorado State Pueblo Wednesday at 7 p.m., in a rematch of a heartbreaking, 2-1 double-overtime loss in Billings a year ago.  Fans can access live stats for the Adams State contest by logging on to http://ascgrizzlies.athleticsite.net/livestats/xlive.htm.