Men's Soccer Bouts With Hillcats in Non-Conference Showdown
SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. (September 17, 2013) -- After suffering a difficult 1-0 loss at the hands of No. 9 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) on Saturday evening, the Golden Eagles return to the field today against a former Sooner Athletic Conference rival, Rogers State (Okla.), in a 4:00 p.m. kick-off.
Senior goalkeeper Pablo Garcia punched away five Pioneer scoring chances, including an MNU penalty kick opportunity, but was unable to preserve the shutout as MidAmerica Nazarene landed a goal in the closing minutes, sending John Brown to a tough 1-0 defeat. The Pioneers out-shot the hosts, 14-12, and sent more attempts on goal, 6-4. Garcia took the difficult loss in net, moving his record to 3-3-0. Ericksson (5-2-0) picked up his fifth victory in the complete-game shutout. Sophomore Cory Cole finished with a team-high three shots while sophomore Eli Simonsen notched two attempts and a quartet of Golden Eagles landed a lone shot.
The Hillcats (1-1-0) enter this afternoon's match fresh off a narrow 2-1 victory over NCAA II Oauchita Baptist (Ark.) on Saturday (Sept. 14). Rogers State badly out-shot the hosts (20-4) as Kaspars Kokis landed the game-winning goal in the 37th minute of play. RSU had scored the opener just four minutes prior, and hung on to the win despite giving up a tally to the Tigers in the 81st minute.
In its first match of the season, Rogers State faced off against NCAA II Southern Nazarene (Okla.) in Claremore. Although the hosts out-shot SNU, 24-15, the Crimson Storm netminder collected nine saves in a shutout performance, sending the Hillcats to a 1-0 defeat in its season and home opener. Southern Nazarene landed the lone goal in the 64th minute and battled through 17 second-half Hillcats shots to preserve the victory.
