LIVE STATS: Illinois Springfield
WEBCAST: Illinois Springfield
THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER
UIU will continue an out-of-conference stretch with a pair of matches against the University of Illinois Springfield and Oakland City University. The Peacocks will host UIS on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 3 p.m., then travel to Springfield, Illinois, on Sunday, Oct. 18, to take on Oakland City in a neutral site affair. That match will kickoff at 1 p.m. Upper Iowa is 1-0 all-time against the Prarie Stars, beating UIS 2-1 last season in Springfield. This will be the first time UIU has played Oakland City.
LAST WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S SOCCER
Upper Iowa (8-2-1, 2-2 MIAA) surrendered three second half goals in a 3-2 loss to Fort Hays State on Thursday afternoon. Upper Iowa took a two-goal lead into the halftime break before FHSU rallied for their goals. But the Peacocks bounced back to beat the Viterbo V-Hawks 4-0 in a non-conference match on Sunday. UIU scored two goals in each half and had four different players find the back of the net.
REGIONAL POLL
The National Soccer Coaches Association of America released their official regional rankings and Upper Iowa moved to No. 4 in the Central Region for the week of Oct. 13. Here is the complete NSCAA Men's Regional Poll.
KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER
1 RALLYING THE TROOPS: Over the last two games, UIU has gotten big performances from 2014 All-MIAA honorees
Johnny McBeth and
Ryan Pinkerton. Pinkterton scored a goal in each of the matches against both Fort Hays State and Viterbo, while McBeth assisted on the Pinkerton goal against FHSU and added his first goal of the season against the V-Hawks.
2 OFFENSIVE ATTACK: The Peacocks set new single-game season-highs in points (10), goals (4), shots (31), shots on goal (12) and corner kicks (14) against Viterbo on Oct. 11. The shots and shots on goal totals were the most since Upper Iowa defeated Southern Nazarene 3-1 on Oct. 18 last season when UIU had 34 shots and 13 on frame.3 CLEAN SHEETS: With the 4-0 win over Viterbo, the Peacocks registered their fifth clean sheet of the season, marking the most in a season during Head Coach Jason Carlson's tenure at UIU. It was also the first career win for junior Ludin Gonzales, who has one of the shutouts, while sophomore Connor Rortvedt has the other four.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
vs. ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD: UIS 4-7-1 on the year and is currently on a two-game skid since the team's 4-3 overtime victory against Wisconsin Parkside on October 4th. This past weekend the Prairie Stars lost two games, falling short against Indianapolis in overtime, 1-0, and St. Joseph's, 1-0.
vs. OAKLAND CITY: The Mighty Oaks are 1-7-1 and have lost six straight since beating McKendree University 2-1 in overtime on Sept. 6. Over their last six games, OCU has been outscored 20-2.
